Resilience of urban systems in the face of natural hazards : To what extent do humanitarian organisations contribute to flood preparedness in Jakarta?

Abstract: Today, the humanitarian sector is faced with the interplay of several challenges: The world is increasingly becoming urbanized and cities are rapidly expanding into megacities and metacities. At the same time it is confronted with a heightened disaster risk that affects the urban realm in particular. This is due to rising exposure of the urban to natural hazards, which are exacerbated by climate change, coupled with vulnerabilities inherent in urban realms. Nonetheless, the humanitarian sector has been exhibiting difficulties in dealing with the complexities of urban realms. Therefore, the theoretical framework of this thesis discusses the added value of adopting a system theoretical approach to the study of urban systems for identifying what factors render an urban system resilient and which ones render it vulnerable. At which critical point can an urban system fail, resulting in a humanitarian disaster? In order to analyse what role humanitarian action can then play as system preserver, a case study was conducted on the specific case of Jakarta and its vulnerability to flooding. For this purpose ten interviews were undertaken: Seven interviews with representatives of humanitarian organisations that had notable involvement in past flood responses, one interview with the Head of Department of Disaster Prevention and Preparedness at the Jakarta Regional Disaster Management Agency and two further informal discussions with former staff. The main conclusions were that, in order to be resilient cities should exhibit properties of complex adaptive systems. The role that humanitarian organisations play in strengthening these properties in the specific case of Jakarta is, within their limitations, of crucial importance for the overall functioning of Jakarta’s flood preparedness system.