Collaborative Resettlement Process

The 11th agenda of SDGs has become an utterly important mission of governments worldwide to create and sustain livable urban settlements. Rapid urbanization becomes one of the reason for the urgency. This research aims at understanding the spatial transformation of the largest resettlement project from the river bank area in secondary city of Surakarta, Indonesia. This research applies a case study method with quantitative and qualitative data from questionnaires and interviews. The data collection process is conducted through three stages, the interview to the government officials to understand the resettlement policy, followed by questionnaire to the resettled household, and the last stage is interview to the head of community of the resettlement area. The survey data is analyzed with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the interview with content analysis. The results demonstrate that a collaborative process plays a crucial role in the success of the resettlement project. Within nine years after the resettlement, the site has significantly transformed from a rural area lacking infrastructure and services to an urbanized area with a rapid intensity of economic activities. The collaborative process has eased the settlers’ adaptation since the beginning of resettlement and has led to improved livelihood assets such as land tenure, housing, and urban infrastructure as well as social assets. This also initiates opportunities for future development of the area.