THEMATIC VILLAGES IN SEMARANG CITY: A COMPARISON OF PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
a. Ravi Fauzan Ashar b. Hartuti Purnaweni
a. Public Administration Department, Faculty of Social Science and Political Science,
Universitas Diponegoro
b. Study Program of Environmental Science, School of Postgraduate Studies, Universitas Diponegoro,
Abstract
Urban housing development in Indonesia is hampered by slum areas problems, including in Semarang City, which has the fourth largest slums areas in Central Java Province, covering 415 hectares. Therefore, Semarang Municipal City created a policy innovation of Gerbang Hebat (Excellent Gate), especially through Thematic Village Program for slum areas revival as well as poverty eradication. Started to be implemented in 2016 with 32 villages, it is targeted to cover 177 kampongs/villages with different themes in 2019. Traditional Snack Village (in Pudakpayung) and Ginger Village (in Pleburan) are two examples of these thematic villages, focus areas of this research, which is aimed at comparing the implementation of this program, as well as analyzing its supporting and hampering factors. The research method is qualitative descriptive. Primary data are gathered through interviews (with government officials, village administrators, local people) and field observation, while secondary data are gathered through literature. Both researched villages are applying Semarang Municipal Regulation Number 22/2018 on Implementation Guidance of Thematic Village implementation. Head of the program in each village (Lurah) is a coordinator between the local people and municipal government in the concept planning, besides the village coordinator. The result shows that the concept planning of the thematic village program in Pleburan which does not involve the local people participation is less success in the program implementation. Program sustainability in Pudakpayung is also better compared to Pleburan, based on its better planning and theme. Theme suitability with local potency of each village is proved to be the most influential factor, as proved in Pudakpayung in which many guidance are given by some institutions. Urban people of Pleburan are not familiar with ginger farming, farming land is not available, and also no program guides. Concept planning and local potency suitability are therefore key factors for the success of program implementation. It is recommended that comparison results of these two villages could be used to encourage better implementation of the Thematic Village Program. Therefore program sustainability and the betterment of these participating villages could really support eradication of slums areas and poverty in Semarang City.
Keywords: Implementation, Thematic Village, Sustainability, Suitability, Planning
Topic: Rural Infrastructure