This paper enters the debate about ‘sustainable development’ with reference to the emerging ‘megacities’, of which the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, and its adjacent cities in the region known as ‘Jabotabek’ is one. It is argued that, while the immediate agenda of urban environmental management—of water, sanitation and waste—remains important, the problems involved are tractable, and it is necessary to go beyond them to try to think through the implications of regional and global processes in considering the future of city regions such as Jabotabek. The extreme inequality of income distribution in the city region, and associated patterns of power, emerge as major problems in envisaging sustainable futures.