Strengthening spatial planning in Indonesia for resilient urban development
October 2018
Urban infrastructure investments in Indonesia remain hampered by lack of synchronization between spatial plans and development plans at the national and local levels. This is further compounded by the rapid growth in urban areas that spills to neighboring towns but with the absence of regulatory and institutional mechanisms to steer metropolitan growth.
In 2017, the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (MASP) sought the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to assess gaps in the planning processes and to advise on how resilience principles could be integrated. ADB’s response was aided by support from the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF).
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(from left to right) Agnes Wirdayanti, Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ari Nugraha, Central Bureau of Statistics; Tri Dewi Virgiyanti, National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas); Abdullah Kamarzuki, Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning; Ryan Pribadi, Geospatial Information Agency; and Sari Tunas, ETH Zurich Future Cities Laboratory.
MASP Director General Abdul Kamarzuki receives the Guidance Framework on Metropolitan Spatial Planning from ADB's Senior Urban Development Specialist Joris van Etten.
ADB’s support to MASP on the gap analysis was substantiated by an urban resilience assessment and spatial data analysis of Metropolitan Palembang, which served as the case study. Zooming in on the metropolitan level is in recognition of the fact that although there are 21 locations across the country that are considered as “metropolitan”, there is no commonly understood concept of what a metropolitan area is.
These metropolitan areas are also beset with problems of limited spatial planning capabilities and tools, some boundary disputes, varying degrees of quality and availability of spatial data, and inadequate know-how on translating spatial plans into infrastructure investment programming.
To assist cities and towns to think and act beyond their own administrative areas, three key resources were developed under the ADB support: a Metropolitan Spatial Planning Framework that integrates responsiveness to climate change, disaster risks, and rapid urbanization, and a Toolkit on Spatial Data Sharing and Management. In addition, an open-source planning tool called UR-SCAPE was launched providing a digital platform to support the spatial planning of rapidly transforming urban and rural regions.
These three outputs served as the main agenda of an inter-agency workshop chaired by MASP Director General Abdul Kamarzuki last 31 July in Jakarta. Panelists representing the National Planning Agency BAPPENAS, Ministry of Home Affairs, Statistical Data Agency, and National Mapping Institute agreed on further collaboration and piloting so as to enhance data sharing and management for enhancing resilience of metropolitan areas.
To learn more about the ADB’s work with MASP, read this article by project partner, Future Cities Laboratory.
CONTACT
Joris van Etten
Joris is a Senior Urban Development Specialist with ADB’s Southeast Asia Urban and Water (SEUW) Division and currently outposted in the Indonesia Resident Mission. For more than 20 years and while affiliated with various international organizations prior to joining ADB, Joris has supported urban management and infrastructure delivery in numerous cities.
Joy Amor Bailey
As Urban Climate Change Resilience Specialist, Joy manages ADB’s Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF) portfolio in Indonesia and the Philippines. UCCRTF supports ADB’s response in building resilience to the effects climate change within medium-sized cities in Asia, particularly to reduce the vulnerability of the urban poor.
The assessment studies arrived at recommendations regarding the country’s spatial planning norms, standards, procedures, and criteria.
In order to keep up with the demands of the fast-paced economic activities in Asia and the Pacific, and the increasing shocks and stresses from climate change, the government has to address the slow pace of plan preparation and plan endorsement, and the lack of incentives to prepare and implement high-quality spatial plans. There is also a weak link between spatial planning, cadastral registration and municipal revenue collection.
These metropolitan areas are also beset with problems of limited spatial planning capabilities and tools, some boundary disputes, varying degrees of quality and availability of spatial data, and inadequate know-how on translating spatial plans into infrastructure investment programming.