Identifying post-suburbanization: The case of the Jakarta metropolitan area (JMA)

Abstract

The post-suburban notion suggests the transformation of suburbs due to infrastructure expansion and connectivity between primary and smaller cities, which leads to polycentricity. This paper examines post-suburbanisation by examining commuting patterns, origin-destination, and commuters’ socio-economic characteristics in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA). This study uses cross-sectional commuting survey data in 2014 and 2019 to investigate the post-suburbanisation process by three indicators; (i) spatial dependence of job and school activities to Jakarta is limited, (ii) maturity of sub-urban is higher in outer districts as it is more attractive for middle-upper class and older migrants and (iii) segregation as a higher share of commuters from adjacent districts. This paper contributes to the post-suburbanisation literature by highlighting the importance of commuting data and the dynamic of urban socio-spatial in a developing country that calls for multilevel institutional arrangements to manage the metropolitan.