This article is available also in spanish here

Jakarta is sinking and now Indonesia has to find a new capital

My list

Author | Marcos MartínezJakarta, the Indonesian capital, is sinking. 10.1 million people lived in the city in 2017, and over 30 million in its metropolitan area. As a solution to combat the rising seal-levels due to climate change, the state plans to move the capital, according to the minister Bambang Brodjonegoro. But the sinking city is not just due to rising sea levels.Jakarta was built on swampy ground, making it unstable. The over-extraction of groundwater has also weakened the aquifers. We are all responsible for the last blow with climate change. According to some forecasts, the city will disappear by 2050 and these types of events could occur more often. Efficient water management is essential to combat climate change.

A dreadful water policy

As mentioned earlier, Jakarta is a city built on a swamp. It is not the only city to be built on water or the first to encounter problems resulting from this. The Aztecs in pre-Hispanic America drained the Texcoco Lake to build the city of Tenochtitlan around the 14th century; while Venice was built on around 120 islands in the 5th century. Today Mexico DF suffers worse earthquakes and Venice is sinking.If in Jakarta the final blow came with climate change, which is also threatening to do away with Venice’s heritage, as we will see later, in Mexico DF, the problem arose when, during the 16th century, the settlers drained Tenochtitlan. We now know that this is having a significant impact on earthquakes, with these increasing as a result of the clay sediments that were left behind.yakarta is sinkingEarthquakes and flooding do not appear to be related, yet both Mexico and Jakarta have a common denominator; a dreadful water policy. In the Indonesian city, the problem was aggravated for decades because of the construction of illegal wells that drain the aquifers.In addition, the concrete in the city of Jakarta covers such a vast area that the water cannot get through it. The entire city acts as a protective crust, and the aquifers do not fill up, as reported by Fluence. As a result, the city’s foundations are gradually weakening. In dry countries this water extraction leads to serious droughts.

When the ground moves, infrastructures collapse

But Jakarta, Mexico or Venice are not the only cities in the world whose foundations are suffering as a result of human activity. In a considerable part of Russia, Alaska, China and Canada, they are experiencing serious problems with basic infrastructures such as railway lines. Remember, the most efficient mass transit option. The problem occurs when the permafrost heats up.The permafrost is a type of soil in which the “active layer”, a layer four centimetres from the surface, remains frozen all year round. It is a fantastic material for building on given its stability, but global heating is making it melt. As the climate expert, Laurence C. Smith, stated in his book ‘The World in 2050’, “the substrate acquires the structural resistance of wet clay”.Railway lines cannot be built on clay. Nor homes, hospitals or schools. The Winnipeg-Churchill (Canada) train was affected back in 2010, when it had to reduce its speed for a number of kilometres. The Qinghai-Tibet railway line, on the Tibetan Plateau between Goldmud and Lhasa, was also affected. The same occurred between Baikal and Amur in Russia.yakarta is sinkingIn 2005, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment published a document that revealed very worrying details such as those above. If sustainable rail transport is compromised, many will choose to use polluting air travel, worsening the emissions problem.The ACIA also referred to cities in its report. The percentage of dangerous buildings in large towns and cities ranges from 22% in Tiksi (Arctic) and 80% in Vorkuta (Russia). Let’s just imagine for a second, what it means for a city when four out of five buildings are on the verge of collapse. This is what will happen in the Mediterranean, but with entire cities.Meanwhile, according to Suez, with develops and markets its own smart irrigation and urban drainage technologies, "the needs of agriculture account for 70% of the water consumed worldwide". And while industrial usage may seem a small amount in light of this, the company expects that the latter will account for 22% of all water consumption in 2030. Developing countries are facing now a double challenge: dealing with the realities of climate change and addressing the requirements of economies still vastly dependent on agriculture, yet quickly moving towards industrialisation. Water sources will be under severe strain... and in dire need of proper management.

Cities that will sink in the Mediterranean

In 1953, the Netherlands suffered such destructive floods that in 1987 they built the Oosterscheldekering, an eight-kilometre-long barrier between the islands of Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland, considered to be the world’s firstflood barrier. A plaster to combat climate change and a (slight) increase in resilience.In 2018, it became clear that all these measures were inefficient in the long term. The models indicate that the whole of the Netherlands is gradually sinking. In 1982, the Thames one was completed in London, but the city is heading the same way as the Netherlands. Shanghai, Houston, Bangkok and other cities “may seem strong and stable, but it is a mirage”, according to Kat Kramer, a contributor to the Christian Aid report which the BBC helped broadcast in 2018.yakarta is sinkingThe Venetian Lagoon and its city, may not be so lucky. According to a report drawn up by the MedECC (Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change), “500 million inhabitants will have to adapt to almost inevitable changes”. It is estimated that by 2100, the Mediterranean sea level will have risen by one metre and temperatures will rise by four degrees. Scientific reports corroborate this.Wedges to raise buildings are not enough to combat the rising level of the Mediterranean. Valencia (Spain), Cesme (Greece) or Mersin (Turkey), are some of the cities threatened by the rising levels of the Mediterranean. Climate models were wrong and climate change is occurring at a much faster rate than we imagined. Can we adapt cities to the new crisis?

Urban resilience is crucial

The Sustainable Development Goal Number 11 refers to Sustainable cities and communities’, focusing on them being “more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. Resilience is the capacity of communities and ecosystems to undergo disturbance without shifting to an alternative state. It is a capacity we are losing in the fight against climate change.Railway lines were resilient to the forces twenty years ago, but not to the ones of today. In order to be resilient, we need to adapt cities and change citizens’ habits. Instead of travelling by plane, car or motorbike, we need to choose more sustainable forms of transport and we need to promote rational use of resources. They have not done this in Jakarta.Images| iStock/CreativaImages, iStock/andyparker72, iStock/Nordroden, iStock/IR_Stone

Related content

Recommended profiles for you

Remember to activate your profile to network!
Activate profile
LF
Loredana Ferrara
Sdstudioferrara
Owner
GB
GOURAV BISWAS
RD ENTERPRISE
Small company,big thinking,vendor company of B&R CO.I LTD
Raed Khoury
Raed Khoury
GAMA EPSELON HOLDINGS LTD.
PROJECTS MANAGER
SK
Skender Kosumi
UBT
Lecturer
Laura Wilson
Laura Wilson
ICLEI
Carlos Blanco
Carlos Blanco
room2030
Technologist
Alfonso Báez
Alfonso Báez
Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla
Nicolás Ruggiero
Nicolás Ruggiero
EDILIZIA
CEO Owner
zw
zeon wong
musebase
designer
JO
Jordi Oliver
Ajuntament Torroella de Montgrí
Regidor d\'urbanisme
SG
Sayan Ganguly
Invest India (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade)
Associate - Technology Development Fund (DRDO) Desk
AH
Alejandro Hidalgo
TriDimensión consultora SpA
Urban architect with an interest in urban planning and sustainable cities
Lorenzo Marquez
Lorenzo Marquez
Universidad Politecnica de Cataluña
civil engineering student
mg
mawloud ghecham
BATIMENT GCB /EURL BATILABSI
engineer
Marta Sardà
Marta Sardà
L'Econòmic
Editor
Pedro Paiva
Pedro Paiva
StratBus - IoT Services Strategy & Business
Managing Partner
MG
Marco Goedhart
Newco communications
IT manager, design network
KZ
Katerina Zalamova
CREA IDEA LAB SL
Identifying new business and exploitation models for digital infrastructures.
MA
MD. AZHARUDDIN
Pioneer CAD Technologies
Working as an Instructor in Organization.
Ximena Osorio
Ximena Osorio
Ximena Osorio
Architectural BIM Designer

SmartCity
Thank you for registering to Tomorrow.City. You can now start exploring all the content for free!
Only accessible for registered users
This content is available only for registered users
TO: $$toName$$
SUBJECT: Message from $$fromName$$