Titien Woro Murtini

The utilization characteristics of social facilities in the border area of Semarang city

The rapid growth of settlement in border areas is often considered as a problem of big cities in Indonesia, where people from rural areas prefer to move out and settle in the border areas of big cities due to the provision of better social facilities. Border areas generally do not receive adequate attention and are often overlooked by the local government. It is a common phenomenon in Indonesian cities, including in Semarang City. Increased number of settlements in the border areas in Semarang City is in linear with spontaneous urbanization processes which indicate the heterogeneity emerging of settlement areas. In the early stages of Semarang City spatial planning, the need for social facilities in border areas is included based on the regular standard which is commonly applied to the urban core. In a very short period, the numbers and types of existing social facilities are insufficient to fulfill the needs of the community. Nowadays, in the context of rapid urbanization, the growth of social facilities in border areas is very high. The intense growth of settlements in border areas is very high due to the low price of land in Demak Regency in compared to those of other areas in Semarang City. However, only a few developers involved social facilities as a part of housing estate construction. Consequently, most of the occupants utilize a limited number of social facilities provided by the municipal government, which are actually intended to serve the citizens of Semarang City. This research was conducted at Sendang Mulyo Village which is located in the border of Semarang municipal administrative area and included in Demak Regency. This paper discusses the utilization characteristics of social facilities in the border area of Semarang City, with the aim to get the trigger factors. The method analysis consisted of a statistical test and descriptive analysis. The utilization characteristics were formulated based on the relationship between neighborhood and human behavior. The settlements in the border area of Semarang City have different characteristics. The differences led to a gap of the utilization of facilities between people who live in the planned and unplanned settlement. Therefore, the social spatial concept is required to address the issue.

The function of green belt Jatibarang as quality control for the environment of Semarang city

The quality of the healthy environment in a neighborhood city is decreasing in number. According to the government regulation, Act No. 26 of 2007, a city should have 20% of green areas from the total area of the city. Now, Semarang only has 7.5% of green areas from the total city area. One of the efforts made by the Government of Semarang is the establishment of a greenbelt in Jatibarang area. It consists of several parts, namely, the reservoirs in the green belt area and also the plant zone in other sectors. The reservoir has a function as the controller of water resources sustainability where the crops serve as the balance for the combination. Thus, it is interesting to study how the interplay of these two functions in a green belt area. The primary data used in this study was obtained from the locus of research by direct observation, interview, and physical data collection. Based on the data collection, data was then processed and analyzed in accordance with the indicators that had been compiled based on theories of reservoirs, green belts, and the quality of the urban environment. Government regulations regarding with the greenbelt and tanks were also used as references in the discussion. The research found out that the presence of the reservoir and the plants in the green belt of Jatibarang can improve the function of the green belt optimally which is a real influence for the improvement of the environment quality, especially water. The Greenbelt was divided into four zones, namely the Arboretum, Argo - Forestry, Ecotourism, Buffer - Zone also made the region became a beautiful greenbelt that brought a positive influence to environmental quality.