Spatial Efficiency of Urban Centres as a Basis for Regional Development: A Case Study of South Sumatra
Soegijanto Soegijoko, -
1979 | Disertasi | S3 Economics
Implementation of development policy in the spatial setting has commonly always been based on the hierarchy of the existing administrative system and its urban areas as centers. However, the designation of these administrative units with their respective capital towns as centers does not always coincide with the user1s-population preference regarding the location of service facility consumption. There arise the question of efficiency of the services rendered by the selected locations. The current ‘regionalization scheme' of Indonesia is an illustration of this phenomena. This study is undertaken on the belief that efficient spatial organization of urban areas can serve as basis for regional development framework. And that in the context of the prevailing regionalization of Indonesia, incremental corrections can be made in the process of the centers selection.
Following a statement addressing the need for spatial efficiency as a basis for regional development policy in Chapter I, and a review of the political history of Indonesia together with. a description of Indonesia's current regional development scheme in Chapter II, a proposal is made in Chapter III that an optimum scheme of spatial organization of centers can be obtained by the application of a modified central place theory. Regional development is defined as the provision of service facilities to the largest possible number of people resident in a given region. The theoretical basis {o~ this proposed scheme, from the work of Von Bouventer. and Parr on the growth pole concept and the experiments in India of Sen et al. and of Banerji and fisher, is first discussed.
Chapter IV reviews the situation in 1970, 1972 and 1975 in the Province of South Sumatra, the area chosen as a case study, and the following analysis as undertaken in Chapters V and VI. Using as variables 52 characteristics of Kecamatan (district) towns collected in 1975, and their inter-distances measured in kilometers, a 54 x 54 matrix was constructed employing a computerized Dykstra tree-searching algorithm (Shortest Path Algorithm, SPA). factor analysis uncovered two important latent dimensions for South SumatraÂ’s urban areas urban services oriented and rural tradition oriented and provided at the same time factor scores that acted as weights describing these areas' capability to provide services. The Teitz and Bart P-median algorithm was used to assess the efficiency of each town in the configuration. Efficiency is defined as the ratio of the average of all distances among urban areas of the present configuration of centers over that obtained in the configuration of centers resulting from the use of this algorithm. Using the Christaller K-3 hierarchical centers system as a guide, the modification of the central place concept based on the efficiency of urban centers as defined 1s presented, including farmers, migrants, entrepreneurs, and urban population as population factors.
Chapter VII provides an overview of the policy implications of this study, discusses the promise shown by this modified central place theory, and proposes for future applications the addition of data not available for inclusion into this study. Detailed data on industrial sectors and the economic structure of the region would provide ~ needed information; the use of a time series is considered of prime importance, for a time series would provide not only a dynamic spatial framework but also material for predictive purposes that would help to mitigate one of the most serious practical obstacles to the application of this theory: the recommendation as efficient of urban areas that do not now lie within the current administrative framework
Kata Kunci : Urban Centres, Regional Development, Spatial Efficiency
