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Bandung City, Indonesia

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DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2015.09.005

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 Cities 50 (2016) 100–110

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Cities

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcit

City Profile

Bandung City, Indonesia

Ari K.M. Tarigan a,b,⁎, Saut Sagala c, D. Ary A. Samsura d,b, Dika F. Fiisabiilillah b,c,e,
Hendricus A. Simarmata f, Mangapul Nababan g,b
a
Cofely Fabricom GDF Suez, Kanalsetta 3, 4033, Stavanger, Norway
b
Resilience Development Initiative (RDI), Bandung, Indonesia
c
School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development, Institute of Technology Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia
d
Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
e
Spatial Planning, Landscape Architecture and Planning, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands
f
Urban Studies Postgraduate Program, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
g
Ministry of Public Works, Jakarta, Indonesia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Bandung City has grown to become a very important centre in Indonesia, demonstrating a higher economic
Received 14 June 2015 growth rate than the national average. It has experienced many challenges resulting from rapid urbanisation, in-
Received in revised form 10 September 2015 cluding slums, basic infrastructures, and flooding. Despite such issues, a gradual improvement of urban develop-
Accepted 12 September 2015
ment has occurred in recent years. This offers hope and confidence to the entire society living in Bandung for the
Available online xxxx
urban future and its environmental sustainability.
Keywords:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Rapid population and economic growth
Sustainable development
Inter-local government conflicts

1. Introduction Bandung City is part of the Bandung metropolitan area (BMA),

With a total of 2.5 million registered residents, Bandung City is
the third most populous city in Indonesia after Jakarta and Surabaya
(BPS Kota Bandung, 2014). The city serves as the capital of the West
Java Province and is located about 140 km from the country capital,
Jakarta (see Fig. 1a). Located at 768 m above sea level, Bandung
was originally developed as a resort city in the 1800s by the Dutch
Indies government, partly due to its rich natural setting and comfort-
able climate (Voskuil, 2007). Nowadays, Bandung has become a
large-scale city with an area of 168 km2 and is one of the most impor-
tant centres for political, economic, and social activity in Indonesia.
During recent decades, Bandung City has been successful in
attracting both large domestic and foreign investments to develop
various public infrastructures as well as generate local businesses
such as tourism, manufacturing, textiles and apparel, pharmaceuti-
cal, financial, food, entertainment, and services (Firman, 2009a).
The economic boost, rapid increase of the population, and urban
expansion, which can be attributed to the tremendous growth in its
commercial, industrial, and educational sectors, have brought many
opportunities to Bandung.
⁎ Corresponding author at: Cofely Fabricom GDF Suez, Kanalsetta 3, 4033, Stavanger,
Norway. Tel.: +47 953 65 314.
E-mail addresses: a.k.m.tarigan@gmail.com, ari.tarigan@hotmail.com (A.K.M. Tarigan).
which consists of Bandung, Cimahi City, Bandung and West Bandung
Regency with an area of 3392 km2 in 2005 and a total population of
8.2 million in 2014 (see Table 1 and Fig. 1b). The BMA is prepared
to have functional linkages with integrated infrastructure services
and possible cooperation for city-to-city and city-to-regency level,
related to industrial, economic, and service sectors. The cooperative
advantage is claimed to give significant influences to the BMA's
economic growth that increased 7.83% over a 1 year period (2008–
2009).
Despite these positive reports, the economic growth of the BMA has
also offered huge challenges for Bandung City to deliver sustainable
urban development and to maintain a high quality of life for its citizens.
There have been also some challenges regarding coordination between
Bandung City and other regions in the BMA.
This profile attempts to highlight the history of Bandung's
urban development and examines the key issues facing the city,
especially to create a liveable and sustainable urban environment.
The rest of this profile is structured as follows. In Section 2, a brief
historical overview of the city is provided, followed by its spatial
development and urban form in Section 3. Section 4 provides an
explanation of the city's economic profile. In Section 5, some key
challenges for the city to establish a sustainable urban development
will be explained. Finally, the conclusion of this city profile is provided
in Section 6.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2015.09.005
0264-2751/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 A.K.M. Tarigan et al. / Cities 50 (2016) 100–110 101

Fig. 1. a, Bandung City in West Java Province and Indonesia (based on various sources, under creative commons attribution licence, 2015). b, The position of Bandung City with its
neighbouring cities and regencies (source: West Java Province, with authors' modification).

2. A brief history of Bandung
According to archaeological evidence, the Bandung area is sitting on
the basin area formed by a prehistoric lake (Fig. 2) that appeared after
the eruption of Mount Sunda, which existed around 55,000 years ago,
which then blocked the course of the Citarum River and created a natu-
ral dam (Dam, 1994). The area therefore contains highly fertile soil that
positively supports agricultural activity. These conditions have since
attracted people to come, grow their food, and then settle on a perma-
nent basis.
People have been living in the Bandung area for about 6000 years
(Brahmantyo, Yulianto, & Sudjatmiko, 2001). However, the first report
of human settlements in the area dates back to the 15th century when
it was part of the Sunda Kingdom1 which lasted until the late 16th cen-
tury, when the area fell under the Sultanate of Mataram (Kunto, 1984).
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch East Indies Companies
(VOC), who occupied most of the modern Indonesia at that time,2
opened big plantations in the Bandung area. These triggered economic
activity in the area and attracted more people to settle. For business and
1
The capital of the Sunda Kingdom was Pajajaran, which is believed to be in the area of
present-day Bogor city, around 59 km from Jakarta to the south or around 180 km from
Bandung to the north. As it was customary in that period that a kingdom was also called
by the name of its capital city, Sunda Kingdom was therefore also known as the Pajajaran
Kingdom.
2
The Dutch Indies was part of the Dutch government in Indonesia. It became modern
Indonesia after World War II.
102 A.K.M. Tarigan et al. / Cities 50 (2016) 100–110

Table 1 into the city and mostly settled in the southern area, which was rel-
Administrative division between Bandung City and the neighbouring areas. atively flat. This situation naturally created a social segregation
Area (km2) Population Population density among the residents based on the existing political power, wealth,
Administrative division in 2005⁎ in 2014⁎⁎ in 2010 (/km2)⁎⁎⁎ and ethnicity (Siregar, 1990; Voskuil, 2007).
Bandung City 167.27 2,575,478 14,125 After Bandung received its status as a municipality (gemeente) in
Bandung Regency 1767.96 3,418,246 1801 1906 from the Dutch Indies Governor General J. B. van Heutsz and sep-
West Bandung Regency 1305.77 1,624,179 1159 arated from Bandung Regency, there was a further plan to replace Bata-
Cimahi City 39.27 581,989 13,134
via with Bandung City as the new capital city (Kunto, 1984). This was
Bandung Metropolitan Area 3392.27 8,199,892 2325.65
mostly due to Bandung's fresh mountain climate and comfortable envi-
⁎ Source: www.kemendagri.go.id
ronment compared to Batavia, which was too crowded and unhealthy,
⁎⁎ Source: Badan Pusat Statistik (2014).
⁎⁎⁎ Source: Badan Pusat Statistik (2010). with a very hot climate and vulnerability to disease. This idea, however,
was not realised due to the financial problems as a result of the World
War that had affected the Netherlands (Kunto, 1984). Nevertheless,
military purposes, H. W. Daendels, the Governor General of the Dutch In- Bandung was later chosen as the capital of the West Java Province
dies from 1808 to 1811, ordered the construction of a regional road from when the Dutch government formed it in 1925 (Sekda Jabar, 2013).
Batavia (present-day Jakarta) to Bandung, which was part of a huge con- After Indonesia's independence in 1945, Bandung continued to hold
struction project called the Great Post Road (De Groote Postweg in Dutch) an important position in the country. In 1955, Bandung was the host of
to connect the Java's West Coast (Anyer) and East Coast (Panarukan) over the first Asian–African Conference, which was an important step toward
more than 1000 km (Toer, 2005). This road development had a significant the Non-Aligned Movement, an important force in world politics during
impact on Bandung's development, because soon after the road was fin- the Cold War period. Bandung again held the conference in 2015, and as
ished in 1810, Bandung became one of the most important onshore trans- part of this last conference, 25 mayors from Asian and African cities
portation hubs in the Java region. Also in the same year, Daendels ordered signed the Declaration of the Smart City, which sealed the commitment
the administration of Bandung Regency, which at that time was under the to the development and construction of the sustainable smart cities
leadership of R. A. Wiranatakusumah II, to move to Bandung from models through a network of knowledge, technology, and investments
Krapyak, located in the present-day Dayeuhkolot district to the south of among those cities. This declaration, which was initiated by the current
Bandung (Kunto, 1984). mayor of Bandung, represents one of the Bandung municipality
In 1894, the construction of the railway from Batavia to Bandung government's efforts to realize one of its latest visions to make Bandung
was completed, and afterwards, Bandung slowly gained a significant an example of a smart city in Indonesia.
increase in population (Siregar, 1990). Together with the plantation
landlords, many European expatriates—who found Bandung to be a 3. Spatial development and urban form
pleasant resort—came and settled in Bandung (mostly in the northern
part of the city, which offered a hilly vista with beautiful landscapes), The beginning of the modern Bandung City development was
while at the same time, people from the surrounding areas also poured centred on the Great Post Road (today Asia–Afrika Road) and around

Fig. 2. The area of Bandung Prehistoric Lake (source: http://blog.fitb.itb.ac.id/BBrahmantyo/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Slide2.jpg, retrieved March 2015).
 A.K.M. Tarigan et al. / Cities 50 (2016) 100–110
Fig. 3. Alun-Alun Bandung with the Grand Mosque in the past and present time (source: Trope museum of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), under creative commons attribution licence
and Observation, 2015).
the present-day site of Alun-alun or the main city square (see Fig. 3). The
later was built under R. A. Wiranatakusumah II in the traditional design
with the Grand Mosque (Masjid Agung) and public-official meeting
place (Pendopo) surrounding Alun-alun (Kunto, 1984). The presence of
Alun-alun was fundamental for old Bandung residentsbecause it was
regularly used not only as a public space (the government used it to
announce publical information and demonstrate military power to the
public through parades and performances) but also as a meeting point
for interactions among the local residents for trading goods, performing
art, and holding other social events (Kunto, 1984). Bandung at that time
only had an area of around 900 ha.
Along with the idea to move the capital of the Dutch Indies to Ban-
dung from Batavia, the municipality of Bandung initiated an expansion
plan to the north by proposing the North Bandung Development Plan in
1917 (Raksadjaya, 2007). This plan was supported by the Town Plan-
ning Committee at that time, in which Thomas Karsten, a renowned
Dutch Planner, was involved. In 1930, Thomas Karsten was invited
again to prepare another expansion plan for Bandung City by the munic-
ipality. He established what is called as the bouwverorderning, which be-
came the base of the neighbourhood design for Bandung City. One of
Karsten's goals was to integrate the practice of the colonial urban envi-
ronment with native elements (Siregar, 1990). As a result, buildings
with a unique blend of European art-deco style and local tropical style
flourished in Bandung, and the remnants still can be seen today (see
Fig. 4). Bandung City in the Karsten Plan covered an area of 3305 ha.
The next feature of Bandung's urban form was much modified
during the 1950s, when Bandung City already had an area of 8098 ha.
The spatial plan during this period was strongly influenced by the rise
of new industrial enclaves in Bandung's suburbs. The concentric zone
principle was adopted in the master plan by applying a series of rings
to the urban form. The Alun-alun area, an open public plaza, was set as
the centre of the rings. The residential areas and businesses were
then placed at the second ring, while residential neighbourhoods
for workers (as well as agricultural areas) are localised in the next
rings (Evers, 2011). The latest expansion of the city territory took
place in 1987, and its administrative territory remains until now.
Fig. 5 shows the expansion of Bandung City over time, while Fig. 6 dem-
onstrates the expansion of Bandung City due rapid developments of
built-up activities.
According to the latest Bandung City master plan (RTRW 2011-
2031),3 in order to accommodate the city's future activities and devel-
opments, the spatial structure of the Bandung City is divided into
three levels: city centres (Pusat Pelayanan Kota—PPK) which host the
spatial activities on the city scale, city sub-centres (Sub-pusat Pelayanan
Kota—SPK) which house the spatial activities under a particular centre,
3
Bandung City Masterplan 2011–2031 is established through the Regulation of the City
of Bandung No. 18, Year 2011 (Perda Kota Bandung).
103
and local areas (Pusat Lingkungan—PK) which are the smallest unit of
spatial activity on the district scale. Especially with regard to the city
centres, the plan indicates that two locations have been prepared for
Bandung City: Alun-alun and Gedebage (See Fig. 7). The plan to make
Gedebage an additional city centre has emerged since 2006 in order to
enhance the development in eastern part of Bandung and reduce the
condensed activities in the centre of the city (Zulkaidi, Natalivan,
Susiyanti, & Ananto, 2006). Currently, various large facilities and infra-
structures have been developed in Gedebage to serve the community
needs, such as a regional bus station, university, hospital, and a sport
stadium.
4. The economic profiles of Bandung City
Bandung's economic growth has been the highest in the West Java
Province, and it is even higher than the national growth rate (see
Fig. 8). Commerce and industry are the main contributors to Bandung's
total GDP per year (Table 2). Among the most visible activities in the
commercial sector are the clothing factory outlets and boutique busi-
nesses that are attracting not only local people but also those from
other parts of Indonesia, and even neighbouring countries such as
Malaysia and Singapore (Suwarni, 2009). The outlets provide their
own fashion-related products that follow the latest fashion styles,
using textiles from the local factories in South Bandung.
The industrial sector has long been known as the driver of Bandung's
economy. Bandung has several centres of medium- and large-scale
industries like electronics, furniture, and textiles. This sector is essential
not only because it makes a large contribution to Bandung's GDP, but it
can also absorb local labour and drive local economic activities
(Sukirman, 2015). For example, since 2013, Bandung has launched
new industrial centres in different districts, such as the Binongjati
Knitting Industry, Cigondewah Textile Industry, Suci T-shirt and Clothes
Industry, Cihampelas Jeans Industry, Cibaduyut Shoes Industry, Cibuntu
Tofu and Tempeh Industry, and Sukamulya/Sukajadi Doll Industry.
Although, as shown in Table 2, the contribution of the industrial sector
to the economy of the city is still among the highest, it has been
declining from year to year. It is, however, not a surprising phenomenon
because since the late 1990s, the city has been trying to shift its eco-
nomic policy toward the service sector—especially related to tourism,
commercial, and education—due to environmental concern and its lim-
ited capacity to expand its industrial activities (Suganda, 2007).
With regard to the education sector, it has played a significant role in
Bandung's economic activity. Known as a city of education, there are
now 78 colleges and universities that actively operate in Bandung City
(BPS Kota Bandung, 2014). Among those universities are the most pres-
tigious ones in Indonesia that exert a pull on many young and talented
students from across the country to come and—for some—eventually
stay in Bandung.
104 A.K.M. Tarigan et al. / Cities 50 (2016) 100–110

Fig. 4. Remnants of European architectural buildings in Bandung City (based on various sources, under creative commons attribution licence, 2015).

Fig. 5. The expansion of Bandung City's territory (based on various sources, under creative commons attribution licence, 2015).

5. Key challenges and recent developments
As one of the National Activity Centres (Pusat Kegiatan
Nasional—PKN) in Indonesia, together with its surrounding regions
that are included in Bandung Metropolitan Area,4 Bandung City demon-
strates high population growth, reaching around 3.5% per year. More-
over, its rapid development and economic growth has made Bandung
City become very attractive, not only to people from the surrounding
area but also from other places in Indonesia. In 2031, the population
4 poorly handled by the municipalities (PSPK & eLSID, 2015). Among those
The confirmation of Bandung City together with Bandung Metropolitan Area as a Na-
tional Activity Centre is established through Law (Undang-undang in Indonesian) no. 26,
year 2007.
of Bandung City is projected to be 4.1 million, which is much more
than its current capacity (RTRW 2011–2031). This situation certainly
will cumulatively generate pressure and challenges to the city to estab-
lish sustainable urban development and maintain the quality of life of its
citizens. The limitations of the public sector in serving the community
and providing the infrastructure to support the growth of the activities
in the area, as confirmed by the Secretary of the Bandung City's Devel-
opment Planning Board (Sayuti, 2009), have made those challenges
become more apparent. In addition, according to the latest survey
on Bandung citizens' satisfaction regarding the service and development
of the city, there are some issues that—according to most people—are still
issues are transportation, solid waste collection, and flood protection.
Furthermore, we also raise other issues, namely, slum area management,
 A.K.M. Tarigan et al. / Cities 50 (2016) 100–110
Fig. 6. The expansion of Bandung City's built-up area (source: RTRW Kota Bandung,
2011–2031).
clean water provision, and inter-local government conflicts, which can
also become major challenges for Bandung City to establish a sustainable
urban environment. A brief observation on those issues is provided
below.
5.1. Transportation
As mass transport modes are still lacking in Bandung, paratransit and
private vehicles are the primary modes of public transport (see Table 3)
that provide everyday trips among the urban commuters (Tarigan,
Susilo, & Joewono, 2014). Currently, Bandung has 1236.28 km roads to
accommodate these trips, while only 54.25% of the roads are in good con-
dition (BPS Kota Bandung, 2014). As urban mobility has rapidly evolved
in the past few years, urban traffic in Bandung has suffered from heavy
congestion. Following the growth of urban population, the number of
trips per day has shown to increase 66% from 1995 to 2010, and it is
105
estimated to become 193% by 2030 (Lubis, Isnaeni, & Nurjaya, 2003);
the congestion is expected to worsen in the future.
Until now, transportation development in Bandung has mostly
focused on road development. A significant number of new road con-
struction projects have been done in Bandung in the last 20 years (see
Table 4), but by contrast, the poor maintenance quality of the existing
roads is visible in various locations, particularly surrounding the sub-
urbs. Nonetheless, the latest administration of Bandung City5 seems to
bring a new approach in improving public transportation and pro-
moting sustainable urban transportation, for example, by launching
a project to attract more young commuters to use public transport,
constructing monorail infrastructures for reducing auto dependency,
providing a subsidy for students who use public transport, and pro-
moting wider use of bicycles (Affan, 2014).
5.2. Solid waste collection
In 2013, Bandung City produced about 1600 t of solid waste, of
which only 61% can be handled or collected by the services provided
by the municipality (BPS Kota Bandung, 2014). At the moment, the
municipality employed trucks that directly collect solid waste from
households on an irregular basis, and a total of 202 temporary solid
waste collection facilities are distributed to various locations in the
city, and a final disposal site in Leuwigajah was located in the peri-
urban area of Bandung City to run its services related to solid waste
collection and management (Sembiring & Nitivattananon, 2010).
With the waste production exceeding the capacity of waste collec-
tion services (see Muttaqien & Sugiyantoro, 2012), Bandung City is cer-
tainly in urgent need of new strategies and solutions to overcome its
solid waste management problem. Those strategies should improve
the existing way in collecting, delivering, and disposing the solid wastes
as well as reducing solid waste production.
At the moment, the authority imposes a charge for solid waste
collection on the community but the amount is considered to be
too low to cover the cost of the service (Saidani, 2013). According to
Siyaranamual (2013), Bandung residents are actually willing to pay
more to have a better collection service since they generally place
higher priority on waste management problem than other environ-
mental issues. Moreover, some residents already provide a commu-
nal waste collection services by themselves. Related to efforts to
reduce solid waste production, the municipality has provided two
city-scale solid waste composting facilities (Muttaqien & Sugiyantoro,
2012). Siyaranamual (2013) also found that Bandung residents do
understand the importance and the benefit of having proper organic
and non-organic waste services, which is important to support the
efforts to compost solid waste, although their knowledge does not
reflect the current situation found in the final dumping site. Further-
more, the current administration is also planning to install a number of
biodigesters—a waste decomposition machine—that will be distributed
to all districts (Aminudin, 2015). It is also important to mention that
the successful process to reduce solid waste production in Bandung
and other larger cities in Indonesia is supported by the presence of infor-
mal/independent waste pickers and collectors who collect certain use-
able materials from waste and sell them to the waste collectors to be
used for home industries for further processing (Sasaki & Araki, 2013).
Looking at all those options, the future development of solid waste
management system for Bandung City can be improved with serious
supports and actions from all stakeholders.
5.3. Floods
Seasonal floods have proliferated in several areas of Bandung, espe-
cially in South Bandung. These events were much worse in the past few
5
The latest Bandung City administration is lead by Ridwan Kamil who was elected as
the Bandung mayor in September 2013
106 A.K.M. Tarigan et al. / Cities 50 (2016) 100–110

Fig. 7. The spatial structure of Bandung City (source: RTRW Kota Bandung 2011–2031, with authors' modification).

years due to the massive increase of built-up areas (Hudalah, Winarso, &
Woltjer, 2010). Between 1990 and 2008, the housing and commercial
construction has grown to about 50%, while in contrast, the catchment
areas in the North Bandung upper region have decreased to below
60% of the original plan. The challenge is that some parts of built-up
activities in North Bandung belong to the BMA but are outside of
Bandung City administration. The fact that some of these developments
obtained permits from the other municipalities (Hudalah et al., 2010)
partly shows the lack of coordination for hazard mitigation plans
among municipalities in the BMA. Moreover, Bandung faces the combi-
nation of strong intensity and volume of rain during the rainy season in
particular between December and March. Due to the unbalanced topog-
raphy, rain water usually flows from the northern to southern part of
the city. The districts of Mandalajati, Arcamanik, and Astana Anyar are
among the most vulnerable areas to floods, especially after rain. Poor
attitudes of local residents who often dump solid garbage into drainage
channels can be claimed to contribute to flood disaster as well, causing
drainage channels to fail to discharge runoff. During the worst events,
water can be stagnant from 2 to 4 weeks, thus forcing the affected resi-
dents to temporarily evacuate to safer places.
To handle the flood disaster in Bandung, the authority has been issu-
ing certain programmes, such as making multiple culverts, small lakes,
infiltration wells, water recycling, and lastly, the biophore programme,
a flood mitigation effort to reduce disaster risk by seeking water infiltra-
tion, thereby diminishing runoff and thus reducing floods (Rianawati &
Sagala, 2014). The biophore programme has recently gained serious
attention by the government because of its low cost, simplicity, and
involvement of the local community in the action. The main idea is to
enhance the capacity of soil to absorb water by making holes on the
ground in some neighbourhoods and filling them with organic waste
to produce compost. The organic waste in the holes would feed the
soil fauna, which is very capable of creating pores in the soil, thus
increasing the absorption capacity of the soil. Biophore is proven
to be able to enhance the absorption of water by the soil on the
neighbourhood level, particularly during flood events and thus
reduce the risk of flooding (Rianawati & Sagala, 2014). A total of
350 biophore holes have been made in Bandung, while the last target
is about 1 million holes with the strong support of local residents.
This plan seems to be promising as the role of community resilience

Table 2
GDP per sector in Bandung from 2006 to 2012.

Sector 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Agriculture 0.30 0.28 0.26 0.24 0.20 0.20 0.21

Industry 27.80 26.52 25.72 24.49 24.38 23.51 22.55
Electric, gas, and clean water 2.22 2.35 2.26 2.30 2.31 2.30 2.35
Building and construction 4.42 4.56 4.31 4.59 4.67 4.65 4.86
Commerce and tourism 39.52 39.73 40.09 40.95 40.61 41.25 41.67
Logistics and telecom 11.22 11.73 11.70 11.77 11.97 12.38 12.47
Finance, rent and services 6.56 6.32 6.41 6.26 6.23 6.37 6.64
Others 7.97 8.52 9.22 9.40 9.64 9.35 9.25
Fig. 8. Economic growth in Bandung, West Java, and Indonesia (source: RTRW Kota
Bandung 2011–2031). Source: Bandung dalam angka (2014).
 A.K.M. Tarigan et al. / Cities 50 (2016) 100–110 107

Table 3
Type of public transport modes in the city of Bandung.

City Municipal (Kabupaten) Inter city within province (AKDP)

Mode
Number of units Number of routes Number of units Number of routes Number of units Number of routes

Mode with fixed route

Minibus public transport/Angkot (12–16 seats) 5436 38 9250 46 6175 53
Midibus 26 seats 12 1 NA NA NA NA
Bus (Damri) 97 7 0 0 56 4
Total 46 46 57

Mode with unfixed route

Taxi 914 283
Rickshaw (Becak) 7800 5716
Horsedrawn (Delman) 50# 5747
Motorcycle taxi (Ojek) 5000–10,000# 5000#

Source: Menkimpraswil (2002),

#
Estimation.

is a key in responding to various natural hazards, including flood similar approach might be taken into consideration for the future
disasters (Wilhelm, 2011). improvements of Bandung slum areas.

5.4. Slums 5.5. Clean water

Currently, Bandung is the second largest city in Indonesia after Jakar-
ta in terms of the total population living in slum areas (see Table 5). At
least 26,000 dwelling units have been dispersed in various slum spots
within the city, concentrated into densely populated neighbourhoods
(see Fig. 9).
Bandung's slum settlements have suffered from limited sanitation,
poor drinking water, and mediocre solid waste management (Tunas &
Peresthu, 2010). The dwellings are mostly semi-permanent, improper,
and vulnerable to flood events, because some locations are along the
Cikapundung Riverbank that flows through the city. The government,
with the substantial support of international donors, has intensively
funded various slum upgrading projects not only to improve the
physical conditions of the dwellings but also the living condition of
the dwellers, for instance, by giving financial grants for the daily
expenses of slum residents and practical trainings to develop the skills
of the community members; hence, they can have better opportunities
to find or create jobs (Winayanti & Lang, 2004).
Despite the abovementioned efforts, little reduction to the slum
areas has been detected in Bandung. As indicated in Fig. 10, more than
50% of the districts in Bandung still contain slum areas. The main reason
behind this situation is the difficulty in controlling the migration flow of
unemployed individuals to Bandung. Individuals who have left slum
areas are often replaced by newcomers from the neighbouring munici-
palities searching for better opportunities in the city, leaving the num-
ber of slum residents and areas unchanged. Studies such as Minnery
et al. (2013) argued that a legalised form of slum neighbourhoods
may provide a sense of belonging and security among the residents. It
might afterwards help this society to settle in their neighbourhood
and enable them to improve the area and their living conditions by
themselves. With certain modification that fits to the local context, a
Table 4
Recent road constructions and development plans in Bandung City.
Road construction Project Length Construction
name (km) period
Padalarang–Cileunyi expressway Padaleunyi 33.4
Cikampek–Purwakarta–Padalarang Cipularang 52.0
expressway
Fly over Pasupati road Pasupati 2.8
Soreang–Pasirkoja expressway Soroja
Cileunyi–Sumedang–Dawuan expressway Cisumdawu 60.0
Bandung Intra Urban Toll Road (BIUTR) BIUTR 27.3
South ring road: Kopo, Buah Batu and Kiara Unknown 0.8
Condong
Source: Authors' compilation.
The city's clean water supplier is a municipality-owned company
called Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum (PDAM) Bandung, which is respon-
sible for clean water distribution to households and industries. In 2012,
PDAM Bandung distributed to around 1.6 million people of Bandung,
which means that almost half of the population still does not have
access or at least a piped connection to clean water (Andani, 2014).
Moreover, for households who already have a piped connection to
clean water, the continuity of the supply is still frequently interrupted.
The clean water pressure for certain locations is often unstable, which
sometimes causes the flow to stop completely. Another issue is related
to water loss due to cracks and rusty pipes that support water distribu-
tion as well as manipulation of water gauges and piped water larceny,
not only by costumers but also by some irresponsible officers of PDAM
themselves (Pratiwi, 2013). The limited supply of clean water and
high level of water loss while water consumption keeps increasing
causes a huge gap between supply and demand; this has presented an
important issue in Bandung City as well as in many other parts of
Indonesia (Komarulzaman, 2013).
According to Andani (2014), there are at least four scenarios that can
be applied to improve the provision of clean water in Bandung. First is
the improvement of the management and control system for the
utilisation of green space in Bandung basin area, which is the main
water supply source for Bandung City. Second is the decrease in the
rate of water loss by imposing legal action against the perpetrators of
water larceny as well as improving the inspection and controlling sys-
tem of water gauges. Third is the increase in water tariffs using the full
cost recovery principles, and the fourth is the combination of those
three scenarios. The first scenario can only be achieved if there is mutual
cooperation among neighbouring regions in the Bandung basin area,
which also shares ownership of its natural sources. More detail on this
issue will be provided in the next section.
5.6. Inter-local government conflicts
The adoption of the Indonesian Decentralisation Act 22/1999 and
1995–1999 Act 32/2004 in the Indonesia governance system has provided a wide
2003–2005 space for local city and regency to be more flexible in controlling
resources and having greater autonomy regarding urban policy making
2004–2005
and urban development. The political reason behind those acts traces
2015–present
2011–2016 back to the governance reform in 1999, when there was strong interest
Unknown in the grass-roots Indonesian community to shift the authoritarian era
Unknown under the Soeharto regime, in which the central and provincial govern-
ment had top-down control over public policies of local governments
(Firman, 2009b). The motivation of the acts, in general, was to offer
108 A.K.M. Tarigan et al. / Cities 50 (2016) 100–110

Table 5 et al., 2010). A lack of coordination among the local authorities to con-
Urban slum in Indonesia (2008). trol the development activities in the area will therefore only contribute
City Size of slum Total slum Total household Total population to the greater risks of environmental damages.
neighbourhoods dwelling living in slums living in slums Another example of inter-government conflict is related to the
(ha) challenge to establish cooperation in solid waste management between
Bandung 202 26,264 30,281 121,124 Bandung City and other municipalities in the region. Due to the urgent
Denpasar 24 943,000 1258 5032 need for additional spaces for open dumping treatment of solid waste,
West Jakarta 449 20,498 36,518 148,168
Bandung City has tried to rent vacant lands in the neighbouring munic-
Central Jakarta 169 10,505 23,162 90,464
South Jakarta 277 19,748 18,658 73,228 ipalities for this purpose, but the negotiations were evidently not easy.
East Jakarta 282 22,184 25,162 93,345 Consequently, Bandung City has faced huge challenges in dealing with
North Jakarta 407 31,879 42,084 165,142 its solid waste problem.
Makassar 323 11,629 17,278 69,112 Kombaitan (1999) had also shown that the lack of inter-local gov-
Medan 31 14,101 15,927 63,708
Palembang 15 14,243 20,928 83,712
ernment coordination between Bandung City and its neighbouring
Semarang 40 7365 8239 32,956 areas has long been stimulating a random development of new trip
Surabaya 59 6158 6958 27,832 origin and destination zones, which has led to the so-called location
Source: Departemen Pekerjaan Umum. mismatch. This phenomenon has evidently contributed to an inefficient
urban structure and a costly mobility pattern (Kain, 2004).
As argued by Firman (2009b), the decentralisation of the governance
local governments the opportunity to plan and develop land use, natural system in Indonesia has evidently stimulated more competition among
resources, infrastructure, and master plan by themselves based on their local interests rather than cooperation and collaboration. The trend is
needs and resources. The acts may induce pressure for local govern- obvious: each local government tends to focus on the specific aims
ments to innovate in determining their policies to fit to their local con- that associate only with their local needs, leading to a competition
texts. However, the acts have also provoked and increased conflicts that produces partial policies among local governments and, in some
among local governments in utilising their own resources which lead cases, neglects cross-border issues. These situations often lead to greater
to fragmented and divergent policies at the regional level. conflicts such as land-use management and a fragmented transporta-
For Bandung, the best known case regarding this issue is related to tion planning scheme at the multi-city level.
the management of North Bandung Area—which administratively
belongs to Bandung Regency, West Bandung Regency, Bandung City,
and Cimahi City—with a total size of about 38,543 ha (Hudalah et al., 6. Conclusions
2010). As indicated earlier, according to the West Java Province, the
area should be categorised as a buffer zone and its ecological function, Bandung has significantly evolved from a small-sized city to a large
especially as a water reservoir, must be preserved and protected. How- and populous city over the course of 200 years. The urban economic
ever, land conversion—mainly due to massive real estate activities have expanded as well. To meet the basic needs of the resi-
developments—has been going on for a long time. The uncontrolled dents, development of residential areas, businesses, and basic infrastruc-
land conversion in the area may prove to increase the magnitudes and tures has been carried out. Nevertheless, the city is still facing some
intensity of floods during rainy periods in the Bandung area (Hudalah challenges related to public service and infrastructure developments.

Fig. 9. Bandung slums in northern part of Bandung (source: Wahyu Lubis, 2015).
 A.K.M. Tarigan et al. / Cities 50 (2016) 100–110
Fig. 10. Slum area distribution in Bandung City (source: Departemen Pekerjaan Umum/PU Cipta Karya).
This study further reports a few critical urban issues in Bandung,
including the poor performance of urban transportation develop-
ments, solid waste collection systems, flooding management, slum
area improvements, clean water provisions, and inter-government
cooperation, which could undermine or hamper the efforts to create
a liveable and sustainable urban environment. Challenges and opportu-
nities regarding city-to-city and city-to-regency cooperation within the
BMA are quite problematic; thereby, these aspects could be carried out
as the next research avenue.
Due to the rapid growth of Bandung City as well as its neighbouring
cities and regions, the improvement of urban infrastructures could
be less effective without considering the involvement of the commu-
nity at large as well as inter-governmental coordination and cooper-
ation. In this regard, Bandung needs to involve its community and
neighbouring authorities, in order to address some of its key develop-
ment challenges by, for instance, improving the management system
related to the share of resources, powers, and task forces to establish a
liveable and sustainable urban environment.
Acknowledgments
This research was partly supported by ITB Research Grant: 31/SP3/
I1.C10/PL/2013. The authors are thankful to Nurrohman Wijaya for the
constructive comments to the earlier version of this paper. Opinions
and views demonstrated in this study are those of the authors alone
and do not represent those of any other affiliation.
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