Characteristics of peri-urbanization of a secondary city: A challenge in recent urban development

Abstract

Urbanization process creates a tremendous spatial phenomenon since the last century. Especially for the country of the South, the phenomenon is still relevant to the situation today and the processes will still going until the foreseeable future. The metropolitan-based of urbanization process involves the development of peri-urban areas, which could be defined as transitional zones between city and rural areas characterized by integrated mixed-structures of agricultural and non-agricultural activities. This article reveals the characteristics of periurbanization process of an emerging secondary city in Java, which uses Surakarta, the second largest city in Central Java Province based on the population size, as the case. During the last ten years, there have been significant changes in peri-urban areas regarding urban population, land use, and urban activities that strengthening the contribution of the urban component into peri-urban system.