This chapter provides an overview of the urban turn in the social sciences and humanities in Indonesia, and how it has been influenced by and contributing to the currents of thoughts in postcolonial urban studies. It outlines the mission of the research program represented by the book that is to contribute from the perspective of humanities to the field of Indonesian urban studies, which has largely been dominated by social sciences. It discusses such a contribution by introducing issues covered by each chapter in the book and shows how they are tied together by the theme of "collective memory, marginality, and spatial politics" that is central to Indonesian urban studies. © The Author(s) 2025. All rights reserved.