Revitalizing the unused urban space, case study: Lhokseumawe, Aceh -Indonesia

Abstract

The phenomenon of urban decline in the highly industrialized nation is now slowly taking place in the developing world. Deindustrialization as defined as a decline in the manufacturing sectors led to the changes in social, economic and subsequently a shift in urban activities. By taking Lhokseumawe, Aceh, Republic of Indonesia as an example, this paper attempts to uncover the possibilities and opportunities in identifying the causes and tracing back on the decline. Lhokseumawe, Aceh was a well-known industrial region outside Java Island, and it has attracted thousands of workers from northern Sumatera and the nearby regions. After the downturn of the economy and the change in activities, the city slowly showed a decline. Scholars has estimated that one in six of the cities around the world that relied on oil and gas production activities will suffer from this phenomenological impact. Lhokseumawe is a good example of an industrial plants where PT Arun LNG (private limited company) operated since 1974 grew up rapidly and nicknamed "Petrodollar City". The trickle effect of the activities from the petrodollar business led to a few settlements popping up at the periphery as a result of urban sprawl from Lhokseumawe, however, the glory of the economic growth outlived within a short period. This was resulted from the production of PT Arun NGL which had dropped dramatically in the 2000s and suddenly closed the operation in October 2014. From these perspectives, this paper attempts to investigate the impact of deindustrialization within the urban space and activity in Lhokseumawe which have consequences to urban declining phenomena. By taking one of the revitalized urban space formerly known as Cunda Plaza (CP) as a case study area, the paper will apply synoptic method through observation, space mapping and interview techniques for gathering and examining the data. The findings indicates that Cunda Plaza is a magnet as a central hub of urban activities which can be integrated with other thriving activities from urban conurbation of academic related activities within the city.