Urban Space Transformation and Social Change from the Perspective of Urban History: A Literature Review
Keywords:
Urban Spatial Transformation; Social Change; Urban History; Gentrification; Historical Urban LandscapeAbstract
Urban spatial transformation is not merely a physical process but a historically embedded phenomenon that reshapes social structures, economic relations, cultural identities, and access to urban resources. This study aimed to synthesize conceptual and empirical evidence concerning the relationship between urban spatial transformation and social change from an urban-historical perspective. A systematic literature review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Relevant studies published between 2016 and September 2026 were retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, JSTOR, and Google Scholar. Of 238 initially identified records, 46 duplicates were removed, 192 titles and abstracts were screened, and 52 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. Fifteen peer-reviewed articles were ultimately included in the qualitative and historical synthesis. Seven studies (46.7%) examined Indonesian cities. Land commodification, gentrification, and displacement constituted the dominant theme, identified in eight articles (53.3%), followed by governance and community participation in seven articles (46.7%). Peripheral urbanization and morphological restructuring each appeared in six studies (40.0%), while heritage, cultural memory, and environmental inequality were each represented in five studies (33.3%). Empirical evidence demonstrated that infrastructure development, land conversion, heritage revitalization, and environmental renewal could improve urban functionality while simultaneously generating displacement, segregation, livelihood disruption, and unequal environmental benefits. In Metro Tanjung Bunga, spatial and transportation changes explained 60.8% of environmental-quality degradation. The review concludes that equitable urban transformation requires historically informed planning, housing protection, participatory governance, cultural continuity, and distributive environmental justice.
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