Utilization of GIS spatial statistics : an assessment of urban poverty incidences in Johor Bahru

Abstract

The urban poverty incidence has been an issue in the rural development and city planning since 1970s. The poverty incidence was claimed as result of increased migration, growth in the new urban areas and extension of administration of urban boundaries. Challenges of urban government towards poverty are the rapid urbanisation process has shifted the poverty from rural towards the urban areas. Many incentives on poverty eradication programmes have been implemented. The current practice of Malaysian government is towards e-Kasih system; centralize national databank on poverty, which has identified poverty into three groups; hardcore poor, poor and low income households. Hence, the study focused on revisiting the poverty incidences using the e-Kasih databank and Geographical Information System (GIS) spatial statistics approach. The aim of this study is to assess the patterns and household indicators that occur in Johor Bahru. Three objectives were identified for the study which was (1) to study the spatial distributions of urban poor households, (2) to identify the patterns of the poverty distribution and (3) to highlight the linkages of poverty patterns and land uses. The two approaches of the point density and point interactions were selected in the study. The absolute location of poor households is the determinant observations whereas the relative location involves distance between poor households towards land uses. It was indicated that low level of education and skills, low household income, larger family size, serious health condition, aging factor and lack of access to the basic amenities and information are problems towards the poverty incidences. In term of spatial distributions, it was identified that the hardcore group is more dispersed compare to poor group. However, the poor group are mostly clustering with highs values of the neighbouring points. Hence, the findings may carry few implications for the improvement of household incomes through productive assistance towards self-employment and self-reliance.