Suburban Sprawl or Suburban Villages? Defining Planning Principles for New Land Development in Indonesia

Authors

Stephen Day

Abstract

Indonesian land use regulations are increasingly designating areas where urban growth is either targeted or excluded, echoing a similar trend in other Pacific Rim nations. Yet as with growth planning in the United States, there is a near total lack of regulatory direction guiding the form or pattern of urban development within the target areas. Sprawling suburban development, essentially patterned after midcentury-style American models, is rapidly consuming the most desirable developable land. Although significant policy goals and legislation are emerging that may provide the basis for suburban land planning principles, neither the central nor provincial governments have consistently articulated such principles. This Comment suggests that statutes should incorporate not only planning goals, but also specific town-building principles to guide local planning authorities. Growth management policy goals that are at the forefront of planning law in the United States are compared with evolving Indonesian policies and with what is actually being built in response to those policies. Historical shortcomings in U.S. suburban planning suggest that alternatives to automobile-dependent suburban development should be considered in the formation of Indonesian land use law and policy. The Comment describes specific alternative models of development that have been built or are being projected.

First Page

331

Recommended Citation

Stephen Day, Comment, Suburban Sprawl or Suburban Villages? Defining Planning Principles for New Land Development in Indonesia, 5 Pac. Rim L & Pol'y J. 331 (1996).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wilj/vol5/iss2/4