Beyond property: Industrial estates and post-suburban transformation in Jakarta Metropolitan Region

Abstract

Past studies on urbanization in East Asia in general and in Indonesia in particular have taken the edge of large cities as the extension of the metropolitan core where the zones of urban–rural transition take shape. The current article argues that the emergence of global cities and decentralization trends in the last decades have challenged this traditional conception. Jakarta Metropolitan Region (JMR) is beginning to join the global trend of post-suburbia, which refers to the decentralization of urban life to the outskirts of a metropolis. Several post-suburban elements in JMR are identified in this article, including planned deconcentration of hi-tech industries and multinational companies, followed by the growth of projects beyond land and property development, including suburban cultural centers with a Western flavor. Despite these commonalities, this article argues that post-suburbia in JMR has its own uniqueness due to the reduced carrying capacity of the metropolitan core, the persistent yet relatively passive influence of the state, symbiotic relations between the market and the public sector, and the privatization of planning rules.