Historic Institutionalism and urban morphology in Jakarta: Drawing the link between flood policy and impacts on urban form & social sustainability

This research examines the link between flooding, planning policies and the physical and spatial impacts of those decisions on the urban form of the city. Jakarta has a long history of flooding, beginning with the Dutch colonial occupation of the city in 17th century, and examines the development of the urban form and the impacts of decisions around flooding over the past 400 years. The study examines the development of the city’s physical and spatial urban form under the colonial administration, the imposition of the European morphological typologies in the context of Jakarta. It continues with the post-independence eras as well, linking planning policies as responses to flooding throughout the city to both improved existing and new flood infrastructure, where those improvements or interventions have resulted in physical and spatial change.

Informal settlements are examined, where houses have been demolished to make way for infrastructure, or where they have been separated from water bodies by such flood mitigation measures. This helps to understand the physical and spatial changes brought about by decisions around flooding, as well as to clarify the human and social costs to the city’s most vulnerable residents as well. Furthermore, the Jakarta Coastal Defence Strategy and the evolving National Capital Integrated Coastal Development master plans are analysed to understand how these new infrastructure projects are impacting communities and the urban form of North Jakarta in real time. Historical institutionalism is utilised as an analytical approach to understand the characteristics of planning decisions and the culture of institutions and decision-making, how certain approaches have come to be relied on, and the manner in which it has become trapped in the same system which, despite more than four centuries of flooding, has enacted little material change to flooding or improvements in the lives of people living in close proximity to water.

Methodologically this study utilises a multi-method or mixed method approach, where a variety of research methods are utilised, including mapping, use of satellite imagery and GIS-based open sources; literature review to understand much of the background and history of planning policies, infrastructure, flooding and environmental challenges; document review to clarify the context and relevance of planning policy and its implications; unstructured interviews with local experts were held to understand gaps in information; and workshops with flood specialists, which were facilitated to understand more precisely what the government and developers should be doing to improve the current situation and to make policy proposals for the future of the city. Taken together, these elements paint a clear image of the way flooding has shaped the physical, spatial and social dynamics of the city, and proposes responses to improve the sustainability, flood resilience and quality of life of a wide range of city inhabitants, not just the wealthy and powerful.