Spatial Perception towards Social Conflicts and the Built Environment in Indonesia

Violent conflicts in Indonesia that occurred at the end of the 1990s involved different socio-cultural groups. However, people generally denied that the conflicts had a strong motive in socio-cultural elements, such as ethnicity and religious differences. On the other hand, the effect of conflict on the built environment told the opposite. The perception of conflicts differs from place to place. This paper aims to explore the spatial pattern of perception towards conflicts and the built environment. It employes both quantitative data and qualitative data. The research distributed more than 500 questioners in 3 different areas that experienced severe violent conflicts during that time. The questionnaire asked what elements have the most significant contribution to the conflicts. Also, a series of field observation identifies the social-cultural component of the built environment. The finding confirms that although people denied the difference in socio-economic-cultural elements is the main causal aspects of conflicts, the pattern demonstrates a potential linkage between them. This information would be useful for the post-conflict intervention at the urban level.