Bandung Urban Sprawl and Idle Land: Spatial Environmental Perspectives

This paper addresses the growth of the urban population resulting in sprawl urban form and its relationship to land abandonment (idle lands). Bandung Metropolitan Area (BMA) in West Java was selected as a case study. Bandung urban topography is a shaped basin, thus has restrictions in the urban's physical growth. This research uses the Geographical Information System (GIS) approach to obtain urban land use patterns and the distribution of idle lands. The land use data were used the historical data from year 1991 to 2012. This paper discusses the impacts of the idle lands due to the urban sprawl, in the term of economic, ecological, and social aspects. This research found the number of idle lands scattered in various parts of the city. Based on these findings, the policy for managing urban development and the idle lands could be potentially improved.