Measuring accessibility and island development in Ambon City

Abstract

Island studies has thus far mostly focused on the limitations, isolation and marginality of island communities. However, recent research into island cities, or urban island studies, provides an analytic lens or research perspective that can be used to understand an island’s diversity and to encourage researchers to identify island characteristics that have an impact on the function of cities and population centers on islands. One of the factors that inhibit the development of island cities is the limited availability of land area and resources, causing island city regions to depend on other regions to fulfill the population’s needs and provide basic services to the population, which puts islands in a vulnerable position because of transportation accessibility problems. This study was conducted using the Transit Opportunity Index (TOI) method to observe the relationship between transportation accessibility and economic growth in island city regions. The result of the analysis showed that transportation accessibility indirectly affects economic growth in every district/city in Maluku Province. Sea transportation accessibility better illustrates the condition of transportation accessibility of Ambon City and other districts/cities in Maluku Province compared to sea and air transportation accessibility.