Growth, crisis and spatial change: a study of haphazard urbanisation in Jakarta, Indonesia

The 1997 economic crisis in Indonesia has a close relationship with the effects of globalisation as characterised by inflows of industrial and financial capital, originating from the global shift since the 1980s. In Jakarta especially, metropolitan expansion has witnessed substantial inflow of international capital into property-development activities. The crisis in Jakarta is characterised by a typical suburbanisation sprawl along development corridors extending beyond the scope of its Master Plan. Both the public and private sectors have been associated in the development programmes whereby a large number of new towns and industrial estates have been constructed. Adverse effects are obvious as a result of ineffective urban management and a lack in infrastructure and commitment to the planning principles. Jakartaʹs CBD expansion has also initiated the move of industries and low-income groups towards the peripheral zones. Consequently, the traditional urban villages face demolition, replaced by more lucrative and intensive land use. The kampung restructuring policy, once a symbol of social welfare, has virtually stopped to function under the impact of the globalisation and international capital. The high vulnerability of the speculative property market and its inherent urban problems question the sustainability of the Indonesian economic growth model. Educational upgrading, however, is seen as one of the fundamentals for supporting this model.