Urban Jakarta

Urbanization
Cathryn Hannay
September 26th, 2:14AM

Jakarta, home to Jabodetabek the 6th largest urban area in the world, is a popular destination for many Indonesians. The city and its outlying areas have a population of approximately 8.5 million. Because so many of its residents are commuters, the population almost doubles during weekdays. Farmers also travel to the city for seasonal work. In the city, about 7.2 million people are without clean water. Chances are you won’t be begged for water, though, because beggars have been officially outlawed. But people still travel to Jakarta for a chance at a better life - which says something about life in the rest of Indonesia.
Idul Fitri, also known as Eid ul-Fitr, marks the end of Ramadan in the Islamic tradition. Ramadan is, in short, a reconnection with nature, religion and family through fasting. During the last days of Ramadan, many families return to their hometowns causing a major population drop in urbanized cities. These population decreases have an interesting effect on cities: In Jakarta, the public facilities are more accessible, traffic becomes less of a problem, and the level of pollution goes down. The population return marks the need for more jobs.
Although this article seems to be a bit slanted against the return of these peoples, it is interesting to note the effect that a large drop in population has on the city. It seems to be quiet, if not closer to deserted. In actuality, it’s probably just more easily inhabitable. Urbanization has the interesting habit of relocating poor communities into a close approximation to others, with little concerns to sanitation. In Jakarta, the government is trying to correct this by preventing “newcomers” from entering the cities. This seems like a very vague and unofficial way to prevent immigration. This article suggests that the real solution would be to help share wealth with the outlying communities to lessen the demand of travel into the larger urban areas.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/09/26/welcome-back-chaos.html