UNIVERSITY OF HAWNl LiDF.:ARY URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: CASE STUDIES FROM AMBON, EASTERN INDONESIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI' I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN GEOGRAPHY DECEMBER 2003 By Alyssa Miller Dissertation Committee: Jon D. Goss, Chairperson Mary McDonald Brian Murton Krisnawati Suryananta Mike Douglass ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would never have come to exist without the academic support of the East West Center, Honolulu, which provided grants for study at the University ofHawaii. In particular, thanks are due to June Kuramoto of the Environment and Policy Institute for invaluable assistance and encouragement in the early stages of the research. lowe many thanks as well to Professor James Collins and the University ofHawaii Department ofIndo-Pacific Languages for providing multiple opportunities to travel, live and study in Indonesia between 1990 and 1996. The field work for this dissertation was made possible by a 1997 research grant from the American Association of University Women. Additional financial support for travel and study was provided by the University of Hawaii Office ofIntemational Affairs, and the University ofHawaii Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Numerous other individuals lent a helping hand along the way. I am deeply indebted to Professors Jon Goss, Mike Douglass, Mary McDonald, Brian Murton and Krisna Suryananta, my committee, for their ideas, advice and support during my tenure at the University of Hawaii. I also owe much to those who read and commented upon chapters. Thanks particularly to Tom Stevens and Joyce Libby who contributed greatly the development ofthe manuscript. In Indonesia, many government officials offered their time and insights as I put together this study, and their cooperation and help is greatly appreciated. Thanks go to 1Il Drs. Jules Pattiselano of Pattimura University, who provided me with an affiliation with the Indonesian National Academy of Sciences. In Ambon city, of particular assistance were Ali Masuku, the Lurah ofWaihaong; Anwar Kotahatuhaha and Robert Akuywen of the Maluku Regional Planning Office; Jon Soplanit, Head of Planning, City of Ambon; Ismael Resusun of Batu Merah; Tilly Soukotta of the Maluku Regional Department of Tourism and Sinda Titaley ofthe Maluku Regional Mining Agency. To Bishop Sol and Sister Tarsisia of the Rhumphius Library, Mark Taber and staff at the Summer Institute ofLinguistics, and the staffat UPI-Ambon research library I extend my gratitude for providing access to a wealth ofarchival materials which helped me piece together the environmental, economic and cultural histories of Ambon. Many thanks also to my research assistants Joice Siahaya, and Atha Paly - my friends, companions, and cultural informants - for all their hard work and patience. Last, but definitely not least, my greatest debt is to the city dwellers of Ambon: the respondents and informants who contributed untold hours to this study and in a very real sense are its true owners. In spite of economic crisis, and at the peril of neglecting their own welfare, countless people invited me, a total stranger, into their homes, fed me, provided me with information and stories, and otherwise included me in their lives. To the residents ofWaihaong and Batu Merah I extend my heartfelt thanks, best wishes, and aloha. IV ABSTRACT This work addresses the subject area of global urbanization and its linked environmental and social consequences, a relatively recent focus within the larger geographic tradition of investigating interrelationships between people and their environments. The research site is a rapidly urbanizing market center on a small tropical island of Indonesia, where conditions evoke particular concerns for not only human survival but also for related issues of coastal management, marine biodiversity and the sustainability of island urbanization. Recent urban growth has brought severe environmental deterioration to the city of Ambon and its surrounds, while local government remains unable to keep up with the infrastructure and service needs of its predominantly low income population. Taking its impetus from political ecology and employing auxiliary concepts on practice from theorist Pierre Bourdieu and from network theory, this work enfolds political-economic and social analyses of urbanization processes within an investigation of local environmental problems and local agency. Focused primarily at the micro-level of the household and neighborhood, the research aims to increase understanding of the phenomena of urban environmental degradation and local self-management ofthe urban environment within this coastal city. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11l ABSTRACT v LIST OF TABLES XIV LIST OF FIGURES xvii LIST OF BOXES XIX CHAPTER I: URBANIZATION AND ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW... 1 Urbanization in Global and Regional Context 2 Global Trends 3 Uneven Growth and Unequal Growth 4 Coastal Settlements 6 Environmental Degradation 7 Regional Aspects 8 The Asia-Pacific Economic Region 9 Asian Patterns ofUrbanization 10 Mega-Urban Regions and Desakota 11 National and Local Aspects ofUrbanization and Environment 13 Indonesia 13 The Research Site - Ambon 15 Investigating Environment and Urbanization in Ambon 17 The Research Questions 18 Overview ofthe Dissertation 19 VI CHAPTER 2: UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN AMBON'S URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS 22 Introduction 22 Political Ecology - Influences and Developments 23 Human-Environmental Relationships 24 Studies ofThird World Development 27 Political Ecology as an Integrative Field ofStudy in Geography 29 Political Ecology as a Research Framework 34 Rural Bias 35 Theorizations ofSociety - Political Ecology and Local Practice 36 Theorizing Society and Collective Action 37 Bourdieu's Theory ofPractice 37 Social Actors and Social Structures 38 Power and Domination 40 Bourdieu's Ethnomethodology 45 Bourdieu's Research 46 Collective Arrangements to Manage the Urban Environment 51 Network Theory 52 The Household as a Unit ofAnalysis 56 Summary: The Study ofEnvironmental Management in Ambon....... 57 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 60 Introduction 60 Rationale and Influences 60 Grounding Fieldwork -- Interpretation 61 Background Influences 63 Field Research 65 Bureaucracy and Gatekeeping 66 The Role ofLanguage 67 Positioning 68 vii Gender Issues . 71 A Changing Social Landscape .. 73 Research Questions I Propositions .. 75 Research Goal .. 75 Main Research Questions .. 76 Research Propositions and Assumptions . 76 Logic Linking Data to Questions . 77 Derivative Questions Guiding Data Collection . 77 Conceptual Framework .. 78 Political Ecology .. 78 The Case Study .. 80 Advantages ofthe Case Study as a Research Strategy . 80 Drawbacks ofThe Case Study Strategy . 81 Critique ofMultiple Methods .. 82 Methods and Components ofthe Study and the Selection of Sites . 83 Selection ofMethods and Components . 83 Units ofAnalysis .. 83 Selection of Study Neighborhoods . 87 Five Methodological Components . 87 I. Archival Research . 88 Environmental Literature Review . 88 Clty·Stahshcs.. 91 Planning Literature .. 91 Political Economy . 91 2. Environmental Surveys . 92 3. Household Surveys .. 92 Selection ofSurvey Households .. 94 Administration of Survey . 96 4. Key Informant Interviews . 97 viii Selection ofKey Informants 98 Interview Methods 98 5. Participant Observation 100 Observations ofEveryday Life 100 Organizations and Events 101 Data Analysis 102 Coding and Cleaning 102 Data Analysis 103 Other Limitations on The Data 106 Summary " 107 CHAPTER 4: THE TERRAIN OF PRACTICE. NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL ASPECTS OF URBANIZATION IN AMBON 110 Introduction 110 The National Setting 111 Geography 111 Urbanization in Indonesia 111 The Structure ofGovernment 115 Indonesia's New Order State and Integration into the Global Economy... 119 Three Decades ofDevelopment Planning 122 Outcomes ofDevelopment Policies 125 Economic Inequalities 126 Spatial Polarization ofDevelopment 127 A Chain ofEnvironmental Degradation '" 129 Urban Policy and Urban Law 131 Formal National Urban Policy................................. 131 Environmental Law and the Urban Environment 134 Krismon and its Effects ..................................................... .. 137 Regional Aspects ofUrban Environmental Management 141 Urban Development in Maluku 144 ix Ambon: The Framework ofEveryday Life 146 Settlement Origins .. .. 146 Rapid Growth ..... ... 151 Contemporary Kotamadya Ambon - Settlement Characteristics 152 Environmental Conditions... .. .......... .. .. .. .. 158 Urban Infrastructure and Services 165 Sanitation 166 Solid Waste 166 Water 167 Electricity 168 Health 168 City Level Planning and Environmental Management.. .. .. .. 169 Programs Implemented in Ambon's Neighborhoods 170 The Social and Institutional Contexts ofAmbon's Neighborhoods 173 Neighborhood Organizational Structure 174 Civil Service 177 School................................................................... 178 Religion 178 The Family and Gender 179 Language 180 Markets 181 Workplace 182 Global Influences 183 NGOs and other Organizations 184 Summary: The Context ofUrban Environmental Management 185 CHAPTER 5: ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND LOCAL RESPONSE IN TWO NEIGHBORHOODS: BATUMERAHANDWAIHAONG 190 Conditions ofExistence: Profiles ofBatu Merah and Waihaong 191 AProfileofBatuMerah 191 x Origins, Settlement Pattern and Physical Conditions........... 191 Present Day Population 201 Education