ABSTRACT
A recurring shortcoming in regional development planning is that development planning efforts have failed to adequately include issues related to the actual qualities of life and well-being of people. Indicators such as the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) or indices on income growth by definition are limited and generally fall short of articulating quality of life. Studies done in Central Java, for example, show that while GDP data suggest economic progress in terms of local productivity and production volume, at the same time the area is experiencing a systematic decrease of rural prosperity (Breman and Wiradi, 2004). There is a continuing need for approaches able to express development progress and planning success adequately, beyond merely looking at utility or commodities, and beyond only using economic indices. This chapter reports on an effort to understand the extent to which land use, public facilities, infrastructure and amenities are contributing to quality of life and opportunities. It tries to raise consciousness among planners and policy-makers of some way to express, particularly in planning evaluation, how the spatial characteristics of a place might offer opportunity, freedom and capacities to its people. Accordingly, this chapter outlines and operationalises an approach towards planning evaluation based on notions of well-being and quality of life. More specifically, it takes the so-called capability approach by Amartya Sen (1993, 2000) as a basis for analysis. A literature review is included in the chapter to argue the relevance of
the capability approach for regional development planning and evaluation. Subsequently, survey and interview findings from Magelang, an agroeconomic region close to the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, are employed for illustrating the capability approach (CA) in planning and development
practice. The Magelang case represents some pertinent problems to regional development planning, including social inequality and a lack of economic stability and prospect. The key question this chapter addresses is: what way could there be to
understand and evaluate well-being, quality of life and standards of regional development in developing regions, in terms of opportunities and capabilities available to people? Based on a literature review and a case study, the paper offers a framework for planning evaluation featuring evaluative indicators such as tangible (e.g. land, physical infrastructure) and intangible (e.g. knowledge, market relations) assets, and the significance of these assets to individual freedom and opportunity. The suggestions are intended to show a way to reveal the resilience or, perhaps, the “spirit” of a specific area, and contribute to the quality of planning work based on issues of capability and well-being, and, specifically, to planning evaluation in regions similar to the case presented.
