Privatization of urban ringes and post-suburbanization Tommy Firman  ;   The writer is a professor of urban planning at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). Currently he is a visiting senior research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, in Cambridge, Massachusetts

JAKARTA POST, 01 September 2014

                                                                                                                       

                                                      

In many Asian countries, urban development has been characterized by a mixture of different economic activities and land uses in the fringe areas of large cities, including agricultural activities, industrial estates and large new towns. Meanwhile, built-up areas are expanding from urban centers in all directions, forming extended metropolitan regions. This phenomenon has taken place most notably in metropolitan cities of Southeast Asian countries, including Jakarta, Bangkok in Thailand, Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Manila in the Philippines, which basically indicates the trend of shifting from mono-centric to multi-centric metropolitan areas. In many developed countries, the development of fringes of metropolitan areas is referred to as “post-suburbia”; that is, the process in which urban development phases away from a concentric radial pattern toward polycentric structure. This process is characterized by population redistribution from urban centers to the fringes, followed by decentralization of various economic activities, including manufacturing, commerce, retail and offices. Post-suburbia in the United States, for instance, is characterized by “what was once central […] becoming peripheral and what was periphery […] becoming central” (Soja, 2000). Nevertheless, the term “post-suburbia” may also characterize the new trend of urban development in Asia, such as in China’s large city-region and even in post-socialist cities like Moscow and Budapest, although it is not an identical process to that in Western countries. For example, suburbanization in China is physically characterized by a mixed pattern of both traditional and new suburban residential development, but it is unlikely to reach the extent of Western cities (Feng, Zhou and Wu, 2008). Likewise, recent Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek) development shows some similar trends, although it might be still be considered to be in an early phase of “post-suburbia” in the developed world. Jabodetabek development is typified by a mix of some increasingly independent towns with various different economic activities, including manufacturing activities in Jababeka in Bekasi, West Java, and education and convention activities in Depok and Bogor, also in West Java, with traditional “dormitory towns” in the peripheral areas. The current development of the Jabodetabek region has been greatly facilitated by the government’s pro-growth economic policy, which encourages industrial-estate and real-estate development in the fringe areas, whereas the private sector plays an important role as a developer in this expansion. As Shatkin (2008) indicates, in large Southeast Asian cities, the relocation of industrial and residential activities from the city core to fringe areas might reflect a shift from publicly to privately controlled land. Moreover, the dynamics of fringe areas in Jabodetabek, as mirrored in the new towns and industrial estate development, is greatly affected by the globalization of the economy, in which capital can move freely across countries and sectors, including the property sector. More specifically, the trend of post-suburbanization in Jabodetabek is characterized as follows.  First, the region is experiencing an uncontrolled and extensive conversion of prime agricultural land into urban land use in fringe areas, most notably into industrial estates and new towns and large-scale residential areas and shopping centers. Meanwhile in the city of Jakarta, the core of Jabodetabek, many residential areas have been converted into super malls, condominiums, offices and business spaces. Second, Jabodetabek is experiencing a rapid urban transformation, which is reflected in rapid population growth and the great increase in the number and percentage of urban localities (desa urban) in peripheral areas, whereas Jakarta itself is experiencing low population growth, which indicates a rapid spillover of the city to its fringe areas. Third, industrial estates are growing rapidly on the outskirts of Jabodetabek, resulting from the development of domestic and foreign direct investment due to the proximity and easy access to Jakarta, and rising land prices in the city center. Fourth, some old and new towns in Jabodetabek fringe areas have been transformed from merely dormitory towns to become independent towns and small cities with strong economic bases, most notably Jababeka, which has now become one of the largest manufacturing centers in Indonesia; Bogor, where agricultural research center Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) is located; Depok, where the University of Indonesia (UI), one of the largest higher-education institutions in Indonesia is housed; and Serpong, a center of research and high-tech development (Puspitek) in Indonesia. The development of old and new towns in Jabodetabek has been greatly facilitated by toll-road development from the government and private sector. Fifth, as the result of new towns and economic activity development on the fringes of Jabodetabek, millions of people commute between Jakarta and the fringe areas using various means of transportation, including public buses, trains and private cars, which makes commuting distances increase. Meanwhile, a number of Jakarta’s residents also commute between Jakarta and small towns on the outskirts because they work there. There are two main actors in the process of post-suburbanization in Jabodetabek, i.e. the government and private developers. The government policy on sponsored low-cost housing development and facilitating the private sector to develop large-scale housing projects for medium and high-income groups, most notably by granting exclusive location permits to private developers, has driven the development of new towns and large-scale residential areas in the Jabodetabek peripheral areas since the 1980s. Moreover, government policy to encourage the private sector to invest in industrial-estate development on the fringes of Jabodetabek under the pro-growth economic policy has fueled the process of post-suburbanization, by which many towns are developing to become independent centers of socioeconomic activities, resulting in a transformation of Jabodetabek from a single to multi-core urban region. The development of Jabodetabek is now becoming more market-oriented, because of the growing role of market forces in the economy. The private sector plays an important role in urban and local development. However the development of private sector activities on the fringes of Jabodetabek seems to be largely uncontrolled and tends to violate spatial planning for regencies and cities in the region, which in turn could severely impact on the environment in the areas, while local governments lack the capacity to manage the rapid urban development. ●