Proceeding Book By International Public Organization For the 3rd International Conference on Public Organization 693 54 THE UNDERSTANDING OF GROWTH OF LOCAL NODE AT DEVELOPMENT AXES AS BASE OF DEVELOPMENT OF NEW STRATEGY OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT Eko Budi Santoso (Institute of Home Affair Administration [Institut Pemerintahan Dalam Negeri], ekobs1@gmail.com) Dr. Heru Purboyo (Department of Regional and Urban Planning, SAPPK-ITB, purboyohp@gmail.com ) Dr. Dewi Sawitri (Department of Regional and Urban Planning, SAPPK-ITB, dsawitri@pl.itb.ac.id ) Abstract Development-Axes (DA) theory , is a term originally stated by Pottier (1963), and restated by Hilhorst (1972) and is used and applied as an alternative growth theory (Paelinck and Nijkamp, 1975, 1978; Richardson 1978, 198, 2011)in explaining the existance of nodes or centers along development axes and the end-point cities (Richardson, 1978,1981). or prime center or growth pole (Hilhorst, 1972) connected. Some of the real evidences of the implementation are the growing of many cities along highways in America, along Grote Postweg road in Indonesia, and in many other countries. So it can be said that the theory is significance as development strategy in the world, especially in making place from infant of settlement to be larger settlement (maybe as town or city in the future) along development axes. This paper focuses on seeking theoretical explanation as new understanding about how the the growth of transport-stop node (as one of the local nodes) along DA that is influenced by the flow of people & goods along the axis. We found that the growth cannot be explained by resource-based growth theory alone and neither other conventional theories of city growth. In fact, not all transport- stop node along DA could have same growth wheter the flow of people and goods are equal along the DA. Based on the observation and in-depth interview as well as questionaire, we found that the growth of transport-stop node is initiated by the existance of transport facility at development axes.We also found that the growth of transport-stop node has five stages of growth and the “attractiveness” as the significant factor to the growth of transport -stop node to be lagers settelement. We argue that the implication of the explanation to the policy is usefull in decentralized era in Indonesia. Keywords : Development Axes, transport-stop node, growth theory, local development Ȣ Ȣ