Drivers of Land Use Conflicts in Infrastructural Mega Projects in Coastal Areas: A Case Study of Patimban Seaport, Indonesia

Roni Susman,Thomas Weith,Annelie Gütte

doi:10.3390/land10060615

Roni Susman, Thomas Weith + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/land10060615

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Abstract

Coastal areas are particularly sensitive because they are complex, and related land use conflicts are more intense than those in noncoastal areas. In addition to representing a unique encounter of natural and socioeconomic factors, coastal areas have become paradigms of progressive urbanisation and economic development. Our study of the infrastructural mega project of Patimban Seaport in Indonesia explores the factors driving land use changes and the subsequent land use conflicts emerging from large-scale land transformation in the course of seaport development and mega project governance. We utilised interviews and questionnaires to investigate institutional aspects and conflict drivers. Specifically, we retrace and investigate the mechanisms guiding how mega project governance, land use planning, and actual land use interact. Therefore, we observe and analyse where land use conflicts emerge and the roles that a lack of stakeholder interest involvement and tenure-responsive planning take in this process. Our findings reflect how mismanagement and inadequate planning processes lead to market failure, land abandonment and dereliction and how they overburden local communities with the costs of mega projects. Enforcing a stronger coherence between land use planning, participation and land tenure within the land governance process in coastal land use development at all levels and raising the capacity of stakeholders to interfere with governance and planning processes will reduce conflicts and lead to sustainable coastal development in Indonesia.

Highlights

Dealing with questions of land use has evolved into one of the most important issues in the Anthropocene era—especially with regard to the societal demand to solve existing and upcoming land use conflicts [1,2,3]
As the Patimban Seaport project represents the focal point of our analysis and as we analyse the interrelation of concepts that are each by themselves relatively well explored, we focus on current debates of those concepts in an Indonesian context rather than drawing cross-country comparisons
The Patimban Seaport project is exemplary in showing how mismanagement and inadequate planning processes lead to market failure, land abandonment and dereliction and how it overly burdens local communities with costs [5,17,19,36], leading to project rejection in those stakeholder groups and land use conflicts [11,21,22,23]

Summary

Introduction

Dealing with questions of land use has evolved into one of the most important issues in the Anthropocene era—especially with regard to the societal demand to solve existing and upcoming land use conflicts [1,2,3]. Coastal areas are sensitive because they are more complex, and their related land use conflicts are more intense than in noncoastal areas [4]. They represent a unique encounter between natural and socioeconomic factors. Numerous and diverse stakeholders rely on coastal resources. Due to the limited supply of coastal land, “alternatives for expansion and substitution are necessarily limited” [1,2,3]. Coast-dependent economic activities, such as the operation of seaports or desalination and power plants, compete with touristic and residential development as well as with environmental and agricultural interests [5,6]

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