Abstract

This article reports on a study of the center of settlement or the centrality of cultural settlements since the founding of the Kaili Ledo community before the 2018 Palu earthquake in Central Sulawesi. This research starts from the post-disaster phenomenon in the Kaili Ledo community, who live in the Palu Valley area even though there has been a ban on settlements, and the reason for the Raranggonau settlement is the origin of the Kaili Ledo community, who live in settlements in mountainous areas. This research aims to trace the origins of the Kaili Ledo tribe, who live in Raranggonau. The research uses the grounded theory method to achieve the aim of exploration, namely, building space from meaning and symbols. The results are findings that indirectly form a concentric spatial pattern originating from Boya or the settlement in Raranggonau because it has a purpose and sign for the space of human life between the spirit of the sky and the spirit of the land, thus creating the Raranggonau settlement. The attachment to ancestral land makes Raranggonau a holy place. Despite the disaster, the “ancestral land” is concentrated and bound by the community down to the Palu Valley.