Petroleumscapes and the urban fabric: a study of hinterland development in Cepu, Indonesia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The petroleumscape has been comprehensively studied downstream from refineries to the retail and administrative footprints of oil space that are generally related to urban agglomeration. Upstream, however, there is less analysis of onshore oil’s origins, typically located in the hinterland and associated with rural areas. This article elaborates on the concept of the petroleumscape in oil and gas extractive areas, which are perceived and conceived of as non-urban, as a nonetheless urban phenomenon. It employs the lens of planetary urbanization by using the term ‘urban fabric’. To illustrate how the urban fabric was produced, appropriated, and contested, the Cepu region and its oil mining were analyzed using previous studies, secondary documents, and news. The results show that the Cepu petroleumscape is a blurred capitalist urban fabric determined by local social and political processes.