Local Sustainability Performance and Its Spatial Interdependency in Urbanizing Java Island: The Case of Jakarta-Bandung Mega Urban Region

Abstract

Jakarta–Bandung Mega Urban Region (JBMUR), located in the western part of Java Island, Indonesia, is experiencing rapid regional development which can be observed from its increase in population density, massive changes of land-use from agricultural land into built-up area, rapid development of infrastructure and facilities, and advances in economic activities. Unfortunately, problems related to sustainability emerge along with this rapid regional development, primarily in decrease in environmental quality and social performance, leading to unsustainable development. This study aims: (1) to develop indicators promoting sustainable development at the subdistrict level, named the local sustainability index (LSI), utilizing factor analysis; (2) to observe local-scale spatial interdependency by employing local indicator of spatial association (LISA) statistics; and (3) to identify regional clusters based on LSI scores using K-means clustering method. Our LISA results show that spatial interdependency of local sustainability performances exists between local-scale spatial units: the LSI of a subdistrict is influenced by the sustainability state of the surrounding areas. Meanwhile, the clustering results show that most subdistricts in JBMUR are categorized as members of cluster 1 with low LSI values in economic and social dimensions but moderate in environmental dimensions.