Assessment of regional development pattern towards sustainability urban areas: empirical evidence from Yogyakarta urban areas

Unbalanced development and growth among regions may cause the spread-backwash effects from developed-rich areas to the poor that commonly occur in the central city to its suburbs in the regional development context. Our study estimates the long-term effects of a small city, Yogyakarta, as a special region in Indonesia towards its periphery areas. The time-series econometric method is used based on Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) and population data among five regions over the last thirty years instead of the cross section model. An alternative spatial combination among regions evaluated the regional development process. Development of the central city confidently has a long-run cointegration relationship with its suburbs. This study has indicated that Yogyakarta has spread-backwash effects towards its outskirt areas, either medium or low-level suburbs. Furthermore, a central city is no longer considered a single determinant in influencing the economy of other regions. The development of Sleman tends to be a new centre and shows that it produces a spillover effect to other areas; thus, it can be a potential trigger to improve linkages and economic performance of greater Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta City and parts of Sleman and Bantul areas are directly adjacent to the Yogyakarta City formed Yogyakarta urbanised area (YUA) as an urban agglomeration in Yogyakarta. The emergence of the YUA in greater Yogyakarta urgently promotes a sustainable collaboration and spatial interaction across territorial administration to manage economic and environmental interest conflict towards sustainable development among municipalities/cities level. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.