Identification of urban form in the Bandung metropolitan area

Urban forms can transform from monocentric to polycentric structures. Identification of urban forms can be done with various methodologies such as using commuter flows and employment density. This research aimed to identify the location of the employment sub-centre and find out urban forms based on commuting patterns in the Bandung metropolitan area. The method used is quantitative analysis with locally weighted regression (LWR) and general functional polycentricity (Pgf) index. The results showed that traditional commuting still dominates with Bandung city as the main destination for commuting and Bandung Regency as the largest commuting sending area. There are six sub-districts that become employment sub-centres that have spread across three regencies/cities. However, the polycentricity index produces a value of 0.028 indicating that urban forms still tend to be monocentric. This condition indicates that although there is a sub-centre of employment in the suburban area, the flow of population mobility still tends to lead to Bandung city as a metropolitan center. Thus, the urban form in the Bandung metropolitan area still tends to be monocentric or weakly polycentric. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.