Effects of ongoing infrastructure improvements in relation to planning policy for flood resilience and historic urban morphological development in Jakarta

This paper explores historic institutional responses to flooding and the influences of such planning policies on the spatial development of Jakarta within the context of pressures from severe flooding and rapid urban development set against a background of significant recent institutional change from the national to the local level in recent years. This study will focus on the local and city scales, considering recent changes to patterns of urban spatial development across Jakarta as new flood defences and mitigation measures have been incorporated in various parts of the city which form part of a wider network of flood and water management infrastructure currently being implemented by local and national government. Several sites will be analysed using urban morphology with GIS-based mapping and satellite imagery to understand the impact of this new infrastructure on existing communities in different parts of Jakarta and the relationship between typology, context and decision-making at the local and national governmental levels. While this article will study spatial impacts at the local scale, it will examine how these disparate sites form part of a wider trend at the extent of the city-region, because the nature of flooding means that both upstream and downstream areas are affected and the origins of problems can arise far from visible disasters. Using document analysis, newspaper articles and historic maps and satellite images, a historic institutionalist approach will be used to understand the policy context and decision-making process involved with the practical realisation of flood-resiliency in the city, which has resulted in a number of side-effects, including displacement of local residents, problems of land tenure, access to affordable housing, severance of social networks and interruption of local livelihoods.