Market mechanisms and low-income housing patterns in the context of urban growth: study of developer behaviours in Bandung Metropolitan Area Indonesia

IF 3.5 2区社会学 Q1 GEOGRAPHY

Geoforum Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-05 DOI:10.1016/j.geoforum.2026.104565

Anita Vitriana , Sara Özogul , Sarah Mawhorter , Johan Woltjer

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Abstract

The private sector dominates low-income housing provision in both the Global North and South. Compared to the Global North, formal low-income housing in the Global South typically manifests as low-density urban sprawl. This study investigates how the layered motivations and strategies of developers shape low-income housing development patterns in the Bandung Metropolitan Area, Indonesia. Semi-structured interviews with 21 developers—14 focused on subsidised housing and 7 on market housing with low-income housing experience—reveal a mix of motivations that combine economic pragmatism and socio-political considerations shaped by local embeddedness and institutional settings. Despite lower investment returns, low-income housing is perceived as a viable investment due to strong market demand, government support, and personal values. Developers’ continued preference for building single-family homes represents a rational and pragmatic response to cultural preferences, regulatory conditions, and capital constraints. Amid growing urban land scarcity, developers pursue increasingly distant land parcels and employ relational strategies to sustain this development model. As a result, multifamily housing remains marginalised, while developers’ decisions reinforce the trend toward smaller single-family units built farther from urban centres, exacerbating the spatial mismatch between housing and employment opportunities. This study demonstrates how market mechanisms operating within immature institutional frameworks can intensify spatial inequities rather than advance the social objectives of low-income housing. The research suggests that examining land and housing tenure systems can provide valuable insights into the persistence of low-density sprawl in such housing developments. We also recommend policy makers adopt narratives of higher-density housing to challenge such entrenched practices.

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城市增长背景下的市场机制和低收入住房模式：印度尼西亚万隆都市圈开发商行为研究

私营部门在全球北方和南方的低收入住房供应中占主导地位。与全球北方相比，全球南方的正式低收入住房通常表现为低密度的城市扩张。本研究探讨了开发商的分层动机和策略如何塑造印度尼西亚万隆大都市区的低收入住房开发模式。对21位开发商的半结构化访谈——14位专注于补贴住房，7位专注于具有低收入住房经验的市场住房——揭示了经济实用主义和由当地嵌入性和制度设置形成的社会政治考虑的混合动机。尽管投资回报较低，但由于强劲的市场需求、政府支持和个人价值观，低收入住房被认为是一项可行的投资。开发商对建造独栋住宅的持续偏好代表了对文化偏好、监管条件和资本约束的理性和务实的回应。在城市土地日益稀缺的情况下，开发商追求越来越远的地块，并采用关系策略来维持这种开发模式。因此，多户住宅仍然被边缘化，而开发商的决定强化了在远离城市中心的地方建造更小的单户住宅的趋势，加剧了住房和就业机会之间的空间不匹配。这项研究表明，在不成熟的制度框架内运行的市场机制如何加剧空间不平等，而不是推进低收入住房的社会目标。研究表明，检查土地和住房使用权制度可以为此类住房开发中低密度扩张的持久性提供有价值的见解。我们还建议政策制定者采用高密度住房的说法来挑战这种根深蒂固的做法。

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来源期刊

Geoforum GEOGRAPHY-

CiteScore

7.30

自引率

5.70%

发文量

201

期刊介绍： Geoforum is an international, inter-disciplinary journal, global in outlook, and integrative in approach. The broad focus of Geoforum is the organisation of economic, political, social and environmental systems through space and over time. Areas of study range from the analysis of the global political economy and environment, through national systems of regulation and governance, to urban and regional development, local economic and urban planning and resources management. The journal also includes a Critical Review section which features critical assessments of research in all the above areas.