Intermediate Cities on a Resource Frontier

Abstract

This study examines two intermediate-sized cities, located in East Kalimantan, a resource-rich province of Indonesia. Both cities experienced rapid economic and demographic growth during the 1970s as a result of resource extraction for an international market. The future of such cities depends on both the international market and internal governmental policies. THE focus of this study is two intermediate-sized cities that function within an international economic system. The cities examined here are located in a region that recently experienced large-scale extraction of natural resources for export in the world economy. The changes in the two cities caused by the internationalization of the regional economy is the specific analytical thrust of this article. The cities of Samarinda and Balikpapan are located in the province of East Kalimantan, Indonesia, a resource-rich region well known for the export of timber, exotic forest products, and, perhaps most importantly, petroleum.1 Each city has a population in excess of 260,000, and each underwent population growth of more than 7 percent annually during the 1970s, when exports of timber and petroleum increased dramatically.2 Samarinda is the provincial capital and the center of timber processing; Balikpapan is the regional headquarters and refining center for the state-owned petroleum company, Pertamina. The two cities thus became growth centers not because of governmental fiat, but because of a demand on the world market for