The Challenge of Directing and Controlling Suburban Growth in Metropolitan Areas in Indonesia: The Case of Surabaya

Aulia, Belinda (2024) The Challenge of Directing and Controlling Suburban Growth in Metropolitan Areas in Indonesia: The Case of Surabaya PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

In the Global South, the phenomenon of rapid urbanisation has accelerated leading to expansion in suburban areas. Previous studies on urban growth management have had mixed results. However, the lessons learnt show that formal rules are not the only factor that plays a part in the success of implementing these policies. Actors should abide by formal rules, but they also use their logic that is based on human cognition, unwritten norms, and shared understandings. This is because institutions are often vague, leaving room for interpretation. This study argues that key actors play an important part in urban expansion, regardless of the formal regulations that have been set. However, few studies have explored the parts that actors play in managing suburban growth. Therefore, using the lens of Actor-centred institutionalism, this study assumes actors are not passive players. They can enable or disable new development in the suburbs by implementing their own strategies. This study explores how actors use strategies within a hierarchical institutional landscape in a metropolitan area, to advance their interests. This results in the difficulty in managing (sub)urban growth. Using a case study approach, regencies in the vicinity of the urban core of the Surabaya metropolitan areas were identified as case studies and villages as embedded case studies. By adopting qualitative methods, the research investigated how the key actors, at every administration level in the metropolitan area dealt with the ambiguity and inconsistency between regulations, as well as the difference between formal regulations and local norms when it came to land use management. The study showed that in metropolitan areas, with multiple tiers of administration, the key actors, at every tier, can find opportunities to implement their strategies because of the ambiguity of top-down regulations, incoherent plans within or between tiers, or even a gap between rules and local norms. Cumulatively their decisions result in both formal and informal suburban development. This research suggests that rigid hierarchical zoning regulations are not an effective tool for controlling development in a metropolitan area with layers of administration and compromising culture. With formal suburbanisation, the hierarchical governance culture drives discretionary decision-making in land use plan-making and planning permissions challenge the implementation of the regulatory planning system thus resulting in urban expansion. With informal suburbanisation, the power of key actors at the neighbourhood level, who hold considerable customary and political power needs to be recognised by the planning system and be involved in governing suburbs. Key words: actors, suburban development, urban sprawl, fragmented institutions, metropolitan areas

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	09 Sep 2024 14:57
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2025 03:04
DOI:	10.17638/03182334
Supervisors:	Dembski, Sebastian ORCID: 0000-0002-4292-6712 Shaw, David ORCID: 0000-0001-9054-6952
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3182334
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