ABSTRACT
Wonosobo, being one of the small-sized cities in Indonesia, is transitioning by having the slogan of “The Soul of Java” for its many natural and cultural tourist attractions. Apart from that, the Municipality of Wonosobo also claimed to be “human rights city” around 2015 and has been nationally reckoned as a pioneer for other Indonesian cities in becoming human rights-friendly ever since, despite being one of the poorest regencies in the Central Java province. Such contrasts might be analysed through the lens of city branding, where the notion involves the government and public sectors, industries, universities, along with NGOs and citizens themselves. In particular, there are many organic efforts from local communities that also create many brands of the regency, where if not well-managed, the brands may contradict each other. From these premises, this study asks the question “To what extent has the organic city branding been influencing development progress in Wonosobo?”, aiming to investigate further and compare the development goals in Wonosobo set in the planning documents. The study will also present several lessons learnt, for other Indonesian small city municipalities in general, and for the Wonosobo Municipality in particular.
