Jakarta. Pelita Harapan University, or UPH, hosted the first Indonesia Housing Forum at UPH Karawaci on Wednesday (30/08).

Around 150 guests attended the event, including academics, practitioners, bureaucracy officials and representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The event was themed "Inclusive and Resilient Housing: Indonesia’s Experience," which was initiated by Habitat for Humanity, an NGO that focuses on building houses for underdeveloped villages.

"This forum stems from our concern for the Indonesian community, from education to housing. Community development should not be only in the city but also in remote areas," Jonathan L. Parapak, UPH rector and founder of Habitat for Humanity, said in a statement.

The event included speakers such as Gunawan Tjahjono, an urban planning expert and architecture professor at the University of Indonesia, Nurul Wajah Mujahid from the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) and Arief Sabaruddin and Pauline Boedianto, who are both slum restoration experts.

The forum was divided into two sessions. The first was a sharing session in which the speakers presented background information, problems and data of people living in slums across the cuntry.

Second session was a discussion covering the sub-themes of Technology for Affordable Housing, Innovative Partnership, Resilience and Social Development, Sustainable Urbanization and Housing and Financing and Regulation.

The event is part of the Sixth Asia-Pacific Housing Forum, slated to be held in Hong Kong on Sept. 4-7.