Urban Expansion and Welfare Change in a Medium-sized Suburban City: Surakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

This study observes the socio-spatial dynamics in the suburbs of a medium-sized city, particularly considering the extent to which shifting land use has influenced people’s welfare. This case study selected suburban Surakarta, a medium-sized metropolitan city in Central Java Province, Indonesia. The methods employed were descriptive statistics and spatial analyses. Considering the data availability, unit of analysis was urban or rural villages ( kelurahan or desa). The results show that the development follows the pattern of a regional network, but the spatial dynamics are quite different in each direction. Besides, the shift of land use from agriculture to urban land has not directly affected poverty reduction. In the study area, the increase in industrial land use showed a weak positive correlation with the addition of pre-prosperous families. On this basis, local governments should pay more attention to the existence of the native residents in developing suburbs so that they are not harmed by the shift in land use from agricultural to developed urban land.

Industrial Development-Induced Gentrification

“…The applied methods were satellite image analysis accompanied by visual observation and descriptive analysis of a questionnaire survey. Satellite imagery analysis with the help of a Geographic Information System (GIS) was used due to its capability in spatially displaying spatial structure and detailly identifying buildings and other objects in a big-scale map, as those in previous studies (Buchori, Pangi et al, 2020;Buchori and Tanjung, 2013;Sejati, Buchori, Kurniawati et al, 2020;Sejati, Buchori, Rudiarto et al, 2020).…”

“…Urbanization occurs because of the rapid population increase in urban areas (Rukmana and Rudiarto, 2016). One of the crucial causes is the people's migration from rural to urban areas, urged by the desire to improve their welfare (Buchori, Pangi et al, 2020;Mieszkowski and Mills, 1993;Wu and Zhang, 2012). This situation then impacts various aspects, including land-use change (Yılmaz and Terzi, 2020), economic growth, urban development, social and cultural changes, expansion of built-up lands, changes in the composition of settlements, and government policies related to urbanization (Gu, 2019).…”

Understanding the Connection between Urbanization and Hydrometeorological Disasters: an Experience from Central Java Province, Indonesia

“…This fact shows that infrastructure, particularly transportation, play an important role for urbanization growth. The existence of the main road connecting between cities and regencies has a positive impact on urban expansion [18,19].…”

What are the factors that determine differing levels of environmental quality? Evidence from Java and other islands in Indonesia

“…A city that has fewer citizens will grow into a metropolitan area. Conflict between economic growth, social and environment will continue to happen (Buchori et al, 2017(Buchori et al, , 2020Buchori and Sugiri, 2016;Chen et al, 2017;Sugiri et al, 2011;United Nations, 2014). The outlook is that, by identifying the aspects that distinguish between environmental quality on Java and on islands other than Java, the results can become the basis for making decisions so that the quality of the environment on the other island (Kalimantan) remains very good despite the capital relocation.…”