Jakarta, Indonesia

The site of Jakarta was developed by colonial powers and involved the structural dilemmas of flooding and disease from the start. The problems of flooding and water quality are shown to coincide with the dispersal of informal settlements, which are subsequently blamed for the contamination of water and displaced to other vulnerable areas, while developers replace them with luxury buildings. The faulty planning, extending from the shaky foundations of colonial inequality through the repressive New Order of President Suharto, sustained an unsustainable process of hyper-urbanization without critical foresight regarding water hazards renders the megacity’s adaptive capacity incapable of confronting the problems of sea level rise, pollution, and flooding. While there are some efforts to stem the tide of climate hazards, from massive projects such as building a sea wall to smaller, localized efforts to recharge aquifers with rainwater, the pace of climate change appears to outstrip the city’s ability to establish viable solutions for its enormous and growing population. For this reason, Jakarta is the first and, so far, only city in our assessment to begin the process of “managed retreat” to a different island with the intention of decreasing population pressures and planning means to promote a more sustainable future.