CASE STUDY | Jambatan Besi and Northwood

Question 1

What things provide evidence of social inequality?

Answer 1

• Housing
• Environmental quality
• Crime rates
• Digital divide

Question 2

Housing - Jembatan Besi

Answer 2

• Demand for affordable housing exceeds supply, neither government or public sector have the resources to deal with growing urban population, therefore people are forced into slums
• Very little housing space leads to people building additional floors on their houses themselves out of scrap materials
• 5 people per household average

Question 3

Housing - Northwood

Answer 3

• Expensive, high quality housing, average house prices around $1 million
• Spacious, single family homes on large lots
• 2.8 people per household
• 2/3 residents lived in Northwood for 10+ years

Question 4

Environmental quality - Jembatan Besi

Answer 4

• Very high levels of air pollution
• Kerosene used for cooking
• Smog moving over city poses significant health risk
• Toilets flush out into water supplies and contaminate them
• Groundwater supplies polluted as the slum built on a former waste tip

Question 5

Environmental quality - Northwood

Answer 5

• Air pollution low as it is on the edge of the LA conurbation, avoids smog around the centre
• Access to solar powered and other renewable energy sources
• Very good access to resources, clean, running water

Question 6

Crime rates - Jembatan Besi

Answer 6

• High levels of crime, between Jan-Nov 2015, there were 65 murders, 2652 car thefts
• Issues with organised crime, drugs and human trafficking

Question 7

Crime rates - Northwood

Answer 7

• Crime rates 70% below average
• Violent crime rates 87% below average
• Safer than 96% of Californian cities
• 52/100 000 vehicle theft, national average 220/100 000

Question 8

Digital divide - Jembatan Besi

Answer 8

• Very low internet access
• Only access to internet is through expensive cafes in Jakarta

Question 9

Digital divide - Northwood

Answer 9

• 93% have cell phones
• Tech firms like Broadcom, Blizzard Ent and Toshiba have headquarters in Northwood

Question 10

What factors influence social inequality?

Answer 10

Income
Age
Healthcare
Ethnicity
Education

Question 11

Income - Jembatan Besi

Answer 11

• Average income around $4 per day
• Wealthiest 10% control 30% of household income, poorest 10% control 3%

Question 12

Income - Northwood

Answer 12

• Median income $86500 per year, national average $52250 per year

Question 13

Age - Jembatan Besi

Answer 13

• Lots of young girls employed in garment industry
• Large families leads to high proportion of children

Question 14

Age - Northwood

Answer 14

• 68.5% over 25
• 1/3 of households are families with children

Question 15

Healthcare - Jembatan Besi

Answer 15

• Little to no affordable healthcare
• Epidemics of water-bourne diseases (eg. cholera and typhoid common)
• Malaria + hepatitis A also an issue
• Use of kerosene can cause lung disease, bronchitis

Question 16

Healthcare - Northwood

Answer 16

• Very high quality hospitals
• Run by leading organisations, Hoag Hospital Irvine ran by nationally ranked organisation

Question 17

Ethnicity - Jembatan Besi

Answer 17

• Migrant workers only stay a few months typically
• 35.16% Javanese, 27.65 Betawi (native)

Question 18

Ethnicity - Northwood

Answer 18

• 50% white
• Second largest group Vietnamese

Question 19

Education - Jembatan Besi

Answer 19

• Poorly equipped, hugely underfunded schools
• Children rarely complete full time education as there is a need to work and provide for their families

Question 20

Education - Northwood

Answer 20

• Schools consistently rank among the best achieving in the nation
• 5 high schools, several tertiary facilities
• 68.5% of residents have a first in their degree
• 20.5% have a doctorate

Question 21

Impacts of social inequality on daily lives - Jembatan Besi

Answer 21

• Very high risk of fire due to kerosene, open wires, scrap wood, close proximity of housing
• Many young girls forced into exploitive garment industry
• Employment often insecure, most residents only provide unskilled/ casual labour

Question 22

Impacts of social inequality on daily lives - Northwood

Answer 22

• High educational standards contribute to continued prosperity, people are encouraged into highly skilled fields
• 18% of residents in managerial fields, 10% in business
• 2/3 of those living there have done so for 10+ years