Urban Fabric Investigation: A Review of Spatial Solid-Void of A District Center

Abstract

The construction of a new national capital city impacts the development of surrounding areas to provide public facilities and infrastructure in the context of urbanization. Such spatial impact on these locations must be controlled to prevent regional fragmentation. Penajam District, the capital of Penajam Paser Utara Region, is the closest district to the construction site of Indonesia’s New National Capital City, which tends to become the new epicenter of urbanization. Not only does it connect the mainland with the other islands, but it also has the potential of its vast unbuilt area and the agriculture sector. Exploration of the spatial characteristics of the district center as a community node is carried out to detect certain patterns or forms of community economic activity and recommend the prospective expansion of the area. This research aims to discover the pattern of Penajam’s District urban fabric in terms of built area and the linkage that connects part of the district to understand the pattern for future development. By employing the figure-ground and linkage map, the investigations are done by a qualitative description of 4 phases (from 2006 to 2022) of the site’s growth to illustrate the development direction of the built-up area. Using the satellite data, the solid-void map area was drawn using arc GIS software to depict the tendency of the configuration of the solid and indicate the linkage of the unbuilt area. The results show that the general characteristics of solids are homogeneous, however, there are two typologies of solid, the scattered in the inland and the linear in the coastal area. The linkage in the center area is a mega form, while in the recent development, the linkage is a group form.