The Urban Quality, Public Space, and Social Capital: Departing from Comparison of Three Cities
M. Syaom Barliana, Diah Cahyani P., Beta Paramita

Abstract
Some social problems in urban areas are the implications of social capital weakening of urban community. The combination of good urban design and structuring and cultural essence of being urban is important to reinforce social capital. This article reveals the results of pilot study in first year, which focuses on the description of measurement result of urban objective quality and the level of social capital. The research was also conducted to examine the differences of each city’s variables by comparing three cities in Indonesia namely Surabaya, Bandung, and Surakarta. The results show that, firstly, Surabaya generally has a very high urban objective quality, while Bandung and Surakarta have no significant differences and are included in low to moderate category. Secondly, social capital level of the community members and the public space users generally are included in high category. However, it does not happen to ordinary residents. Thus, social capital reinforcement supposedly occurs due to the community involvement and the intensity of activity in public spaces.

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