Abstract
Rapid population growth that take place in contemporary urban cities in Indonesia resulted in the increasing need for land settlement and other supporting public infrastructures. The growth of settlements in urban areas has growing rapidly and uncontrollably, leaving cities with emerging issues of housing backlog, unliveable housing, and slums. Padangsidimpuan in North Sumatra is a mid-sized city that has a problem with slums. According to the study from the government of North Sumatra Province in 2014, the main commercial hub for the southern part of North Sumatra has 3.02 hectares of slum area. The informal settlement are found in three areas: Wek III village with a slum area of 1.25 hectares; Wek V village with a slum area of 0.37 hectares, and Aek Tampang village with a slum area of 1.40 hectares. It is believed that the actual numbers are higher than the recorded one. Under the ‘Housing and Human Settlement Development Plan of Padangsidimpuan’ project, the consultant aims to formulate strategy in improving slums into a livable and sustainable area. The project employed a quantitative descriptive method with questionnaires and Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify the key issues as well as provide different kind of maps, including the location of slum area. The study showed that the city’s slum area can be divided into three category: High Slum (HS), Medium Slum (MS) and Low Slum (LS), in which each of them needs different improvement measures and time of implementation according to their physical characteristics and the degree of slums. The three main strategies offered by the consultants are (i) Provision of infrastructure and public facilities including clean water, solid waste management, sanitation, and drainage; (ii) Housing improvement on the riverbanks and flood-prone areas; and (iii) Construction of flats.
