Kota santri is an Indonesian phrase that translates literally to “city of santri.” The word kota means “city” in Bahasa Indonesia, while santri refers to a student attending a pesantren, an Islamic boarding school. The expression is used informally to describe urban areas in Indonesia that host a high concentration of pesantren institutions and consequently have a strong Islamic scholarly presence.
The term does not correspond to a formally defined geographic or administrative entity, nor does it appear as the title of a dedicated article in major encyclopedic reference works. Consequently, there is insufficient encyclopedic information to treat it as an established concept. Its usage is primarily journalistic or colloquial, applied to cities such as Jombang (East Java) and other locales noted for extensive networks of pesantren.
Further scholarly documentation or a standardized definition of “kota santri” is not presently available.