Abstract
Despite recording Indonesia’s highest provincial economic growth rate at 39.10 percent in 2025, Sofifi, the designated capital city of North Maluku Province, continues to exhibit comparatively low urban vitality more than fifteen years after its formal inauguration. This trend raises important questions about the conditions under which capital-city relocation fosters intensity, diversity, and continuity of economic activities in the new city. Drawing on a mixed-methods case study approach integrating geographic information system (GIS)-based spatial analysis, qualitative examination of governance arrangements, and comparative analysis of non-autonomous provincial capitals in Indonesia, this paper assesses urban vitality in Sofifi across three dimensions: socio-economic indicators, infrastructure provision and accessibility, and institutional and land-related constraints. The findings reveal a persistent gap between Sofifi’s administrative status and its urban functionality, primarily explained by institutional lock-in rooted in its non-autonomous city status, a national moratorium on regional proliferation, and unresolved jurisdictional conflicts. The paper concludes that formal assignment of capital city status does not confer urban vitality. The evidence from Sofifi suggests that when the designated capital lacks the institutional prerequisites, including autonomous urban governance, it is nothing more than an administrative outpost: a place where government is formally located but where the conditions for urban life are structurally constrained.