The Translucent Area Called Peri-Urban
As an emerging country, the rapid development of a metropolitan area in Indonesia has been unbearable especially for the last decade. According to the World Bank establishment, this country facing approximately 4.1% of urban growth, the lightest of among other countries in Asia. The native culture for people to shift their way of living to become urbanist as return resulting unfortunate facts such as the slow pace of infrastructure development and soaring the spreads of urban poverty in those areas. Furthermore, the Indonesian government is nowadays planning to take a break from urbanization by upscale the physical development for not only in Java but also all over the country to excite the multi-economic activities for the undeveloped region.
The urban theory distinguished into three parts mainly if we talk about metro agglomerations; Urban core, Sub-Urban, and The Buffer between urban-rural area. In practical, it has been the stereotypical issue for accepting sprawling effect to creeping all over the buffer area on behalf of land scarcity. This physical phenomenon as the birth of urban expansion is noticeable in the area called peri-urban. Looking up to the terminology of peri-urban is an area covered by dominantly undeveloped area and in some particular case remain as a productive field surrounding the urban area, waiting to be scrapped all over the place. For almost country stated as a developed one, urban sprawling is fueled with housings, land scarcity in the urban core or downtown area, and high demand of settlement as people swiftly arrive in town, regularly.
There has been a misleading conception for the suburban area and peri-urban area in people’s perspectives. The suburban area is usually performing as a primary city’s cantilever, especially for more affordable housing to the people who make a living in the downtown and or nearby. Take a look at the corner of the suburban area, and people will see a pinch of the dynamic urban uprising for not only human settlements but also the various movements as familiar as the mainland. It may have been quite the contrary for the peri-urban area. Although both of them stands by the line, Peri-urban consist of mostly wide open undeveloped area mixed with common productive lands such as agriculture and clear water fisheries. Not only from the suburban area but the blurry defence also happened to distinguish from the rural area. If a rural area is known as a nature reserve and mostly both in physical and native activities, peri-urban interface commonly has the similar form with a touch or urbanism delivered by the people’s activities. So, in practice, most of the dwellers may not detect the existence of peri-urban but the peri-urbanist itself.
The manifestation of a peri-urban area in some circumstances only admitted in an emerging country based on the rapid growth of the metropolitan area and the victim of urbanization. Take a look at Indonesia’s central urban region of Metropolitan Jakarta or Yogyakarta Municipality if happened to already went by there. Jakarta from time to time has been dramatically consistent with uncontrollable urban development resulting from the sprawling effect by mostly large housing distributions. Until approximately 10 years ago, some regions remain to pursue their rapid physical progress, for instance, Mekarsari of West Java, Maja of Banten, and even Rorotan of East Jakarta, all of them had been progressively competing with each other to rise from above since then along with developer’s brands such as Ciputra Group and Modern Land with Astra Group. The day when they still being cultivated was the moment of peri-urban itself, with the confusion of not being growth but ready with the mixture of some small embryo of people movement. Clear vast swamp with a little touch of organic infrastructure yet to be ready to be stand was a major vision if someone questioning of what is a peri-urban area known for. And somehow, this typical coverage is unusually protected and necessary but high potential to be damaged, based on the pictorial that has been given.
It is also a problem for disclose of the territorial structure. Habraken (1998) was defined how we identify the structure of the place to distinguish the treatment for each section based on every spatial transformation. Transfer from CBD to high-density commercial lane, to high density residential and mid-range mixed-use development, to low density and real estate development, which every section comes the informal and or squatter settlement functioning all of the parcels left. From urban to suburban to rural there is always regulation to follow but not the peri-urban. Lots of times and efforts might be needed for analyzing a new one, because of the indistinct feature beneath it. Defining urban and rural might be easier both in access and control but not this one. So, unfortunately, there is (still) no intention to build a decent document for a peri-urban area based on efficiency and unsteadiness.
Based on the problems above, the peri-urban area still known as the spectre of spatial features also under the jurisdiction of the environment. Sprawling effect as a number one actor also happens to affect the status shift from either rural to peri-urban or sub-urban to peri-urban (rarely occur). Land banking as one of the way to pursue the solutions on problems needed effective immediately establish with the stakeholders. It may reduce the problems but one of the most effective steps is to reduce urbanization, making all of the regions as attractive as possible, making an interconnection based on the structural spatial systems. Bringing all the information spreading nice and even to developed economic sectors in all different way for all the region, keeping our status nicely and reducing blurry lines and translucent space, also reducing the barrier-shift of regional development also one of the biggest expectancies to all the planner.
