Jakarta has been named the worst city in Indonesia by the Center for Urban Design Studies (PSUD), citing poor urban development and the lack of visual beauty.

PSUD head Mohammad Danisworo said that due to poor city planning and inadequate transportation infrastructure, the capital city presented itself as a chaotic and dysfunctional place that affected the quality of the residents' livelihoods.

'The city does not function very well. For instance, it takes two hours just to travel 5 kilometers along a road. With this chaotic condition, Jakarta is seen as a city that cannot function properly,' Danisworo said recently, as quoted by kompas.com.

In addition, he said that the city had to focus on simple aesthetic factors to help improve accessibility for residents and visitors.

'Small things, such as parks, garbage cans and directional or traffic signs are not even provided adequately in the city, making it confusing for residents. The city has become devastating because of the small problems,' he continued.

Aside from problems with city planning, Jakarta had to also improve its environmental planning to make the city more visually appealing.

He, however, praised the Jakarta administration's decision to finally construct the much anticipated Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system earlier this year.

'If Jakarta follows its transit-oriented development [TOD], it will be able to enhance connections to its greater areas. Thus, traffic and population circulation will be more organized and Jakarta's [population] density will not be concentrated in one area,' he added. (dyl/nfo)(++++)