Evaluation of urban settlement sustainability in an inland municipality in Central Java, Indonesia

A sustainable human settlement and the environment are one of the SDGs 2030 programs to realize Sustainable Cities and Communities, which also one of Purwokerto municipality’s planning goals. Purwokerto is in the progress of the KOTAKU (City Without Slum) program to ensure a sustainable settlement for all. To help the program in the future, sustainable evaluation of the present settlement area based on physical, social, and economic parameters is required. The physical parameter was assessed using a combination of field observations and analysis of remote sensing images (Sentinel 2-A and Worldview). In contrast, the social and economic parameters were evaluated using secondary datasets and interviews. The urban settlement sustainability was determined by the scoring method using geographic information systems and spatial analysis. This study showed that 22.22% of the current total urban settlement area in Purwokerto had a good level of sustainability, while the rest, 48.15% and 29.63%, fell into the medium and poor category. The result indicates that most of the settlement area in Purwokerto municipality still needs to be improved in the future. Thus, urban settlement sustainability can be guaranteed through local government development programs along with local community participation.