Abstract
This article contributes to the debate of small centre urbanization and positions it amidst three emerging challenges: urban-rural transformation, economic experimentation, and disaster risk mitigation. To examine the entanglement of the three forces, we analysed the expansion of the Pangandaran urban area – a small urbanizing area in West Java. This expansion occurred as part of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project, in the form of a regional infrastructure plan including railway, airport, and harbour development to accommodate tourism flux. This study uses discursive and qualitative approaches to rural-urban transformation with data gathered through document analysis, mapping, and FGDs with local stakeholders. The results show that although urbanization was a complex process with promises of extensive infrastructure developments and national projects, little attention has been paid to the internal urban structure, utilities, and increasing vulnerability to natural disasters in Pangandaran. The study also addresses how urban theories and policies should deal with the complexities of small urban areas in Indonesia.
Highlights
In November 2018, Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism put forward developing a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to boost tourism in Pangandaran
The expansion of the Pangandaran urban area emerged from the narrow peninsula, where most tourism activity and services are centred, to the west – following the main arterial trunk connecting Pangandaran to Banjar (Figure 1)
The planning was devised without contextual disaster risk, with insufficient basic urban infrastructures such as waste management and flood mitigation as demonstrated before, the development of SEZ will add socio-environmental pressure in Pangandaran
Summary
In November 2018, Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism put forward developing a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to boost tourism in Pangandaran. After consulting with the local government in drafting the spatial plan of the Pangandaran urban area, the authors reflect on the complexity and challenges those small urban areas have been encountering in the juxtaposition of global and national policies. Small cities are characterized by their smaller population size (Satterthwaite & Tacoli, 2003), lower hierarchy (Hinderink & Titus, 1988; Bell & Jayne, 2009), transitional economic structure from agrarian to service sector (Christiaensen & Todo, 2014; Agergaard et al, 2019), and less intensive transnational connection (Fahmi et al, 2014). Little attention has been paid to the vulnerabilities and opportunities such small towns may face in welcoming large-scale project investment
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