Drafting and Implementation of Village Spatial Plan (RTRDes): A Case Study in Indonesia

Spatial territoriality issues continue to be a problem in various parts of the world, including the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia [1], territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas [2], and the Russia-Ukraine war [3]. These issues exist not only on a broad, inter-regional scale between countries, but also at national and regional levels, particularly in rural areas [4].

Current spatial pressures in rural areas have the potential to threaten the sustainable livelihoods of these communities [5]. In practice, the low cost and availability of land in these areas make them prime targets for exploitation, often leading to land tenure conflicts. The villagers often misunderstand the value and appropriate use of their land, leading to misuse for plantations, mining, tourism, and other purposes [6]. This phenomenon suggests that capitalism has penetrated rural areas [7-9].

Moreover, rural spaces, both for protection and cultivation, are increasingly influenced by political and economic practices driven by external actors. However, not all key stakeholders in these villages are aware of or understand the narrative of vulnerability, risk, and the mandate of the Village Law [6]. Even village administrators often fail to comprehend these issues. Instead of strengthening villages to mitigate risks, they are more focused on government administration and new, often non-contextual ideas. This happens despite persistent underdevelopment, poverty, and inequality still being major challenges in rural development [10].

On the other hand, village development policies aimed at achieving the Village Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) bestow upon villages a crucial role in attaining National and Global SDGs. Territorial issues should take priority in development efforts, as eleven of the SDGs are closely related to village territory (goals 7-17). Thus, village actions concerning regional aspects contribute 91% towards achieving SDGs [11]. Regional policies are urgently needed, considering the target year to achieve the SDGs is just eight years away, in 2030.

The principles and values currently conceptualized in the SDGs are threefold: economic, social, and environmental [12]. A strategic issue regarding current development is the imbalanced proportions between these dimensions; development practices often lean more towards economic (profit) oriented actions than environmental (planet) or social (people) ones [13, 14]. Recent natural disasters, such as floods and landslides, are largely due to development being excessively oriented towards economic benefits, often leading to poor environmental planning and management, particularly with inappropriate land conversion [15, 16]. Despite the Spatial Planning Law regulating space utilization, its implementation has not been as successful as intended [17-19].

Village elements are not static; they are dynamic [20]. They adapt to changes and influences from their surroundings, especially concerning land and environmental use, population patterns, and community relationships. Therefore, to understand a village and its problems, a regional-based approach is necessary [21]. Current issues faced by villages in Indonesia include the existence of border or forest-area villages that develop their livelihoods based on superior commodities with high economic value, oriented for export. Problems arise from unclear and non-legally binding village boundaries, overlapping land tenure within village and forest areas, and threats of land expansion into forest areas. Therefore, the strengthening of village spatial control is urgently needed [16].

Previous research related to village spatial planning has examined the type of spatial planning in traditional villages, particularly in relation to local wisdom [22-24]. Similarly, studies have considered the existence and authority of villages concerning village spatial planning within a legal framework [25-27]. However, no research has yet explored the stages of preparing village spatial planning (RTRDes) and its implementation in village development, which could provide answers regarding the importance of guidelines related to village spatial planning [28, 29].

This study discusses the fundamental aspects of village spatial planning to ensure sustainable development at the village level. The concept of village spatial planning in this study prioritizes learning from innovative initiatives carried out by the villages themselves. Up to now, villages have merely been the subjects of development across various sectors, leading to numerous conflicts. This study proposes that villages should have sovereignty where they can prepare RTRDes by involving high rural participation, as village authority is currently guided by the principle of subsidiarity. The Village Law provides flexibility in determining local-scale authority and making local decisions in the interests of the village community. By implementing the RTRDes, the village can develop its autonomy for the benefit of the local community. Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyze the drafting and implementation of RTRDes in supporting sustainable village development (SDGs Desa).

This study uses a qualitative method. Qualitative methods are used in this study because they allow researchers to explore the informants' perspectives, knowledge, and social practices [44]. From various types of qualitative research, this research will use a case study approach to describe the experiences of individuals, communities, or institutions in depth.

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Figure 1. The distribution of research locations represents western Indonesia, eastern Indonesia, and central Indonesia

Table 1. Research location

The type of data to be collected consists of secondary data and primary data. Secondary data is obtained from official report documents of village government, district/city and provincial governments, and relevant official documents. Secondary data collection techniques are done by accessing documents online (browsing documents through official websites or search engines) or offline (copying documents, requesting printed documents directly). Meanwhile, primary data were obtained from direct sources from the informants of this study. The informants of this research will be interviewed using in-depth interviews and FGD methods. In addition, direct observations were made of the research location. The informants of this research consisted of several parties, including the Village Head, Head of BPD, Village Apparatus, Village Leaders, Village Community, and Regency Government.

The primary criteria being villages that have developed and implemented the Village Spatial Plan (RTRDes) within their communities. As there's no comprehensive data on the number of villages that have compiled RTRDes in Indonesia, these criteria were vital in the selection process. The study obtained location data from the partner program of the Kehati Foundation, considering that these locations could represent several significant provinces in Indonesia. Ten villages were selected as research locations, all of which have potential closely related to environmental issues and village economic development. The details of the research locations are as follows (Table 1 & Figure 1).

After data collection, the research phase continued with data analysis. Data analysis used a qualitative approach to parse the meaning of the collected data into findings. Creswell describes the data analysis process as spiral-like contours, indicating that the researcher immerses themselves in the analysis stage [45]. The stages of data analysis consist of managing and organizing data, reading and memoing emerging ideas, describing and classifying codes into themes, developing and assessing interpretations, and representing and visualizing the data.

It is Village spatial planning was first mandated in Article 84 Paragraph (1) of Law No. 6 of 2014 [34] concerning Villages. The relevant context in this norm is that the development of rural areas by the government, local governments (province/district/city), and third parties who utilize village spatial planning must involve the village government. It is just that the term village spatial planning is not followed up by technical regulations derived from the Village Law, even the concept of village spatial planning does not exist in other technical legislation. Meanwhile, traced to a special regulation that regulates spatial planning, the Spatial Planning Law [47], the term village spatial planning does not exist. Even this regulation does not recognize the village concept, so the village does not exist in the spatial arrangement.

The mandate of the Village Law Number 6 of 2014 [34] concerning Villages in conjunction with Article 8 of the Regulation of the Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration Number 1 of 2015 [35] concerning Guidelines for Authority Based on Origin Rights and Village-Scale Local Authorities explains that villages have the authority to regulate their spatial planning based on rights of origin and local authority on a village scale [48]. The authority over the right of origin has the meaning, among others, related to asset management in the village area. The Village Law uses two development approaches, namely "Developing Villages" and "Developing Villages," and placing villages in their nature as inclusive and not exclusive communities [16, 49]. Since the existence of the Village Law, a village is no longer only an object of development but a subject of development so that the village itself can plan and create programs for its village, besides that the village can also manage its budget for development carried out in its village [16].

It has been applied by the ten loci of this research village. These villages have carried out the preparation for the implementation of the RTRDes. Awareness of spatial sovereignty can be used as a guide in long-term development, making these villages enthusiastic in preparing the RTRDes. The motive of the village in compiling the RTRDes is that the community hopes that life will lead to prosperity, so they try to make improvements in the development process. It is because the current position of the village is very strategic in building a country; the village is at the forefront of identifying problems and community needs at the grassroots level until the planning and realization of state goals are at the village level [50].

5.1 How RTRDEs work as a village development plan?

In preparing the RTRDes, there are principles in line with planned village development where the village government and all elements of society must be involved in the development planning process to obtain effective results [51]. In the process of preparing the RTRDes in the initiation stage of the preparation of the supporting factors identified are the community's aspirations that require arrangements related to spatial planning in the village. The role of the Village Head is also critical in initiating this arrangement, especially in increasing public awareness and encouraging community participation to play an active role in development. In addition, there is support and assistance from external village parties; this is what is needed by the village where the village does not have many human resources who understand the preparation of the RTRDes. Most people do not understand their village's spatial conditions, potential, and boundaries of all the research.

Assistance is available due to a cooperation agreement between the district government and external parties related to two main activities: mapping village boundaries and collecting data on the village's superior potential. The assistance from external parties includes understanding the definition and function of spatial planning, providing training in data collection and presentation activities, reading and understanding maps or satellite data, and increasing the human resources capacity to develop integrated village areas. External parties also finance the process of preparing the RTRDes. Funding in preparing the RTRDes is one of the most important things because the costs are not cheap. In addition to financial support from external parties, villages also received assistance in the form of land cover satellite maps by submitting cooperation in submitting map requests such as to LAPAN and PUPR through Bappeda. So that the budget can be cheaper and use an excellent high-level satellite image map, it can be more strategic and a solution for compiling the RTRDes. The existence of technology also facilitates the preparation of RTRDes. In field survey activities, drone technology is beneficial for data collection for villages that do not have a large village land area.

5.2 The three benefits of RTRDes related to sustainable development

Although in determining the RTRDes, there are still obstacles to legality, these villages have felt the benefits of the existence of the RTRDes document. The three benefits of RTRDes related to sustainable development are social, economic, and environmental. First, perceived social benefits include increased community participation in village development planning activities. Before the RTRDes, community participation in village development planning activities was relatively low [16]. It is because, in development planning, the community has not been inclusively involved [52]. After the RTRDes came up with many community initiatives and ideas in development planning. Village development planning is essential because it is the starting point for determining the direction of village development. Without good planning, the village will not progress. Village development is an effort to achieve a prosperous village community through fulfilling basic social needs and optimizing village potential for the local economy and sustainable use of the environment [53].

In addition, the perceived social benefits of the existence of the RTRDes are reducing the potential for conflicts in the use of village space/village territories. Settlement of village boundary conflicts, maintaining land use according to its function, and avoiding conflicts of interest of leaders or conflicts over territory in a rural area. RTRDes also gives village communities bargaining power in resolving land management conflicts with private companies. Another social benefits RTRDes maintains are the local wisdom of the village community. Local wisdom on land ownership loyalty is still very high in some villages.

Second, the economic benefits felt after the existence of the RTRDes are that the RTRDes attract and increase the interest of investors to enter the village, as well as protection/control considerations in the selection of investments that enter the village. RTRDes also provide a comprehensive picture of the condition and potential of the village so that it can be a picture for investors who will invest in the village. RTRDes also supports the community's economy by developing the village's leading commodity potential. RTRDes is very useful to support the village's leading commodities, one of which is oil palm. For palm oil management communities, RTRDes makes it easy for them to achieve certifications such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), issuance of Certificates of Cultivation Registration (STDB) for Oil Palm Plantations, as well as assistance in receiving other assistance programs for oil palm plantations.

RTRDes are also easier to use for the operationalization level to prepare village development programs because they have more complex objects for operations than broader objects. RTRDes assists in the number of village funds for villages because one of the indicators for determining the number of village funds is a village map that explains the village area. RTRDes are also a guide for infrastructure development in villages, especially in supporting land designated for cultivation or protected areas. RTRDes also assists the community and the Village Government in preparing village development programs, which have adapted to the spatial conditions and characteristics of village land and the local community's needs. So far, village development planning has not been optimal due to not paying careful attention to spatial aspects [16]. Community program proposals in village deliberations are not spatially based, so the proposal does not match the actual conditions in the field; besides that, the program proposal is also not accompanied by coordinate points that can facilitate the identification of the feasibility of implementing the program. However, the implementation of village development is a process that must be improved continuously, starting with planning, organizing, mobilizing, and controlling [16].

Third, environmental benefits have the most impact from the existence of the RTRDes. The village has an updated administrative area mapping. The existence of RTRDes supports the realization of village boundaries. It shows that the RTRDes activities also provide benefits to the Village Government in updating village data for the local village development capital. In addition, they are increasing public understanding of the use of village space and control in protecting the village area. So far, the community only knows about the land they own. However, preparing the RTRDes opens their minds and increases public knowledge about spatial planning, especially the assistance provided by parties with the capacity and competence in this field.

The community is the holder of the implementation control related to the RTRDes, where the community is more aware of the area of the village and the current boundaries of the village. The existence of RTRDes provides the ability to maintain a sustainable environment. By mapping the potential of the protected area, it can improve the management of the protected area, which is regulated by village regulations—maintaining a sustainable paddy field zone from the potential conversion of land into oil palm plantations. In addition, the RTRDes protects riverbanks from development activities for oil palm and other commodities. Environmental issues in the village can handle because the village has information such as rainfall, land slope, and disaster-prone areas. So that disaster-prone protection can be done. The RTRDes become the basis of reference in the review of the Regency RTRW. The results of discussions with local governments at several research loci, especially with the District Public Works and Spatial Planning Office, welcomed the preparation of the RTRDes document because it supported their work. Especially in the context of realizing a more precise and more detailed Regional Spatial Plan, it is currently still in the verification stage.

5.3 Stakeholder roles and authorities in RTRDes

In the implementation of the RTRDes, at the preparation stage, several actions are needed to support the drafting process, including participation, assistance, facilitation, and coordination. Participation from the community is essential because it is the community who knows the history of their village land and the community's involvement to avoid further land conflicts. There are various forms of community participation; when referring to Mulyadi [54] community participation in the RTRDes divide into 4 (four) forms, including participation in decision making, participation in implementation, participation in benefits, and participation in evaluation. Participation in decision-making is indicated by community participation in attending RTRDes drafting meetings, expressing opinions or suggestions in every meeting/meeting, providing data/information in every RTRDes meeting/meeting, and community participation in the decision-making process/formulation. Then the form of participation in implementation includes community contributions in the form of labor and materials, especially when conducting field survey activities. At the same time, the form of participation in benefit includes the community participating in activities that support development in the village. For participation in the evaluation, the community provides suggestions and input on the development course, provides an assessment, and submits it as evaluation material.

In the end, massive village development was carried out. Villages are the subject of development actors because they hold the authority and financial resources. The slogan for the village to build is carried out every year. On the other hand, the village supra-village did not stop the "old hobby" of making the village a "development project market. "This supra-village party can be the government and local government (province/district/city) and the private sector, whose enthusiasm is to take advantage of village resources. The eight-year era of the Village Law has made us all aware that massive village development requires well-planned, comprehensive, and sustainable control. The scope of controlling the direction of village development policies already exists in the Village Regulation concerning the Village RPJM. Even now, through Permendesa No. 21 of 2020 [55], the Village Minister has set the Village SDGs as a policy direction for village development. However, regulatory orders are not always carried out perpendicularly in the field. Many original Village RPJM documents, even making the Village SDGs the direction of village development, are still far from expectations.

Control over the use and utilization of village space requires comprehensive village spatial planning and land use documents. This collaborative research related to the RTRDes found a similar pattern, the practice of preparing the RTRDes on the initiative outside the village. The initiative invites the village to be aware of space and have a spatial vision in village development. In a joint reflection between internal village parties, it was revealed that the process and results of the preparation of the RTRDes made them aware of the importance of spatial structures and patterns in the village. They also assessed that the village government's participation and accountability had, on average, improved with the existence of the RTRDes document.

All district governments studied appreciated the initiative of the village and its partners in preparing the RTRDes. The OPD in charge of the village (government, development, social community, community empowerment) is aware of this initiative but has not been able to take further formal legal action. Indeed, exceptional cases occurred in Paser Regency, East Kalimantan and Sigi Regency, and Pasangkayu Regency, West Sulawesi. After reviewing the Raperdes RTRDes, the three regencies passed the Village Regulations concerning the RTRDes. Meanwhile, other district governments have not dared to provide recommendations on the results of the Raperdes review to become the Village Regulations of the RTRDes. The reasons for the anomaly that occurred in Paser Regency cannot be known in detail by the Paser Regency government; they tend to provide unclear information about the process and arguments for the passage of the Semuntai Village RTRDes Village Regulation Draft. Meanwhile, according to counterparts in Kalimantan, in principle, the regional government (legal department) passes the Village Regulation Plan because its substance and legal aspects do not violate the provisions of the laws and regulations above it, for example; RTRDes are in sync with RTRW and RDTR.

Although three districts have passed the Raperdes RTRDes, legally, the protective law that guides the Raperdes RTRDes is not found in technical regulations derived from the Village Law or Spatial Planning Law. The lesson for district governments is to examine village spatial planning or land use more broadly and in detail. The absence of protective laws in the form of derivative technical regulations should guide local government organizations (OPD) in charge of villages to optimize the stages and processes of preparing the village's medium-term development plan (RPJM Desa). So that there is no double document in planning between the RTRDes document and the RPJM Desa document because both are integrated.

The ministry that manages the village so far has not guided the village in preparing village spatial plans. The same goes for the ministry in charge of spatial planning (Ministry of ATR/BPN). As a result, the national spatial vision in the context of national development planning (RPJPN, RPJMN, other documents) is not reflected in the spatial vision of the village in regional development planning documents (province, district) and village development planning (RPJM Desa). The national spatial vision is ultimately not in favor of the village, so it is often found in one village area that has overlapping land tenure statuses (state, private, village, indigenous peoples). An important lesson from the village initiative that developed the RTRDes was to make the issue of village spatial planning or land use a national policy agenda across ministries/state institutions (Kemendesa PDTT, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of ATR/BPN, Bappenas, BIG).