Large-Scale Housing and New Town Development in Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA): Towards an Urban Spatial Segregation Tommy Firman School of Architecture,

Large-Scale Housing and New Town Development in Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA): Towards an

Urban Spatial Segregation

Tommy FirmanSchool of Architecture, Planning and Policy DevelopmentInstitute of Technology, Bandung

Objectives

1. To examine the extent to which large-scale housing and new town development have reinforced urban spatial segregation in Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA).

2. To discuss the characteristics, forces and factors affecting recent large-scale housing and new town development in JMA.

Urban Spatial Segregation

1. Spatial segregation refers to residential separation of sub-groups within a wider population, which could be associated primarily with racial groups, ethnicity, religious belief or income status (Johnston et al, 1983).

2. Spatial segregation exists when some areas show an overrepresentation and other areas an underrepresentation of members of group. It could exist between housing estates within neighborhood and between cities and its surrounding areas (Johnston et al, 1983).

Jakarta Metropolitan Area

Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA)

JMA covers an area of approximately 7,500 sq kilometer, including Jakarta City, Bogor City and Bogor District, Tangerang City and Tangerang District, Bekasi City and Bekasi District, and Depok City.

Population: 22 million (2005), consisting of 80% urban population and 20% rural population; the annual rate of population growth is 2.18%.

The Core, Jakarta City had population of 9.1 million (2005).

New Town Development Projects in JMA, 2005

New Town Development in JMA (1)

(1) From developers’ point of view, new towns in JMA have been developed with three objectives in mind (Leisch, 2000):

(a) To fulfill people’s desire of living in quiet, modern and secure environment;

(b) To give them investment opportunities;(c) To get huge and quick monetary profits.(2) Number of the new towns in JMA are basically designed as

exclusive residential areas surrounded by wall, containing rows and clusters of houses, resulting in a kind of ‘Gated Communities’.

(3) Sizeable prime agricultural land in the fringes of Jakarta City have been converted providing sites for the new town projects. By the mid 2000s there were about 30 large new town in JMA, with size 500 hectares and over.

New Town Development in JMA (2)

(4). The new town development in JMA has been induced by speculative undertaking by several private developers on the one hand, and uncontrolled land permits granted by the National Land Agency (BPN), on the other hand.

(5) The new towns in JMA are mostly made up of low density, single-family houses, and exclusive residential areas for middle and upper income groups.

(6). There have been many violations of land use plans by developers and even by the local governments themselves in JMA due to pressures and interests in locating what considered to be profitable activities

New Town Development in JMA (3)

(7). The physical design of new towns in JMA very much resemble the design of residential areas in developed countries, notably the US, and many are planned and designed by expatriate architects, property specialists, and urban planners hired by the local developers, even though they have little knowledge about local architecture and city planning (see also Dick and Rimmer, 1998).

(8). There are push and pull factors encouraging people to move to the new towns in JMA. The push factors include space limitation in Jakarta City, congestion and pollution in the city center, whereas pull factors include better living environment, infrastructure, urban amenities, closeness to Jakarta City, and more reliable security offered in the new towns.

Housing Construction in a JMA New Town

Luxury Houses in a JMA New Town

A Luxury House in an JMA New Town

The Trend of Urban Spatial Segregation in JMA (1)

1. New town development have reinforced the spatial segregation in two respects:

a. It has polarized middle- and upper-income groups in JMA residents, resulting in several pockets of exclusive residential areas and new town in which the residents enjoyed an exclusive lifestyle, with high security and much better infrastructure and facilities. In contrast, many neighborhood in Jakarta City are basically ‘Kampung’ (Urban Precinct) where poor live together, with largely different life-style.

The housing enclaves in the fringes of JMA are typically accessed through guarded gates, and serviced by controlled high standard facilities provided by the developers, which might include golf-courses and private school.

b. These developments have reinforced social segregation within the new town themselves, where there have been segregation in which the upper middle class and lower high class occupy a part of the area which is exclusively designed to the highest security possible. There is very little interaction among residents of various social groups within the new towns.

The Trend of Urban Spatial Segregation in JMA (2)

2. The government actually requires private developers of new towns and large-scale residential areas to build houses in the formula 1 (luxury house): 3 (moderate houses): 6 (low-cost houses), but this regulation has been loosely interpreted so that low-cost houses can be built at an unfavorable locations or even simply postponed indefinitely.

3. In several new towns, maintenance of infrastructure and facilities is managed by the private developers exclusively, instead of city government, not allowing people outside the new town areas to use the facilities. From the company point of view, town management is very important in order to maintain good quality of life in the new town, which is the attractive factors for the consumers.

Conclusions (1)

1. New town development in JMA has been induced by land speculative undertaking by several private developers and uncontrolled land development permits granted by the government (the National Land Agency – BPN).

2. New Towns in JMA are mostly made up of low density, single family houses, and exclusive residential areas for middle- and upper-income groups.

3. The physical design of many JMA new towns resembles design of residential areas in advanced countries.

4. New town development projects have been scattered throughout JMA but there are almost no links from one to another, and even violate land use plans fro the area in which they are located.

5. New town development has reinforced spatial segregation in JMA.6. The demand for new town in JMA has been essentially created by

innovative developers who have been able to build an ‘image’ of new town as a symbol of ‘modernism’.

Conclusions (2)

7. There have been several major actors involved in large-scale housing and new town development in JMA from 1980s to 2000s:

First, there are developers who seek to extract as much as financial profits as possible out of land businesses in the region;

Second, domestic and international financial institutions, which have made investment funds easily available to developers;

Third, the central and local government, notably the National Land Agency (BPN), have facilitated land acquisition by developers through land permit systems;

Fourth, the consumers of the middle- and upper-income groups; Fifth, the landowners who are basically ‘victim’ of the new town development.8. Security is a very important element that middle- and upper-income groups

look for in living environment in JMA. It may become a prime attractive factor for new town development business in the near future.

9. Spatial segregation in JMA will continue, and it seems inevitable, because it is a product of socio-economic and political condition of the society as a whole.