Thesis Title:
Narratives as Driving Forces: An Urban Political Ecology of Sinking Cities in Coastal Java, Indonesia
Thesis Abstract:
Indonesian coastal cities are sinking, with impacts particularly significant in northern Java, an island where over half of Indonesia’s population resides. Continuous subsidence, compounded by sea level rise, has led to persistent inundation that disrupts infrastructure, mobility, and public health. This research examines how governance of responses to subsidence is shaped by how these processes are discursively framed, what I term ‘sinking city’ narratives. These narratives thus have driven certain development interventions that differ according to their political contexts and economic advantages.
Taking Semarang, Indonesia, as a case study, this research seeks to understand how dominant narratives of sinking cities are constructed, who shapes them, their role in influencing governance and policy decisions, and further, how alternative imaginaries might challenge the existing paradigms. Grounded in Urban Political Ecology (UPE), the research frames sinking cities as inseparable from physical processes, practices, and discourses—and seeks to illuminate the power dynamics that create and sustain them.
The project employs qualitative and participatory visual methods to link material and discursive dimensions of ‘sinking city’. Discourse analysis will be complemented by primary insights from affected neighbourhoods to capture lived experiences often overlooked in the dominant framings. In doing so, it explains the existing instruments that shape the current narratives while capturing the possibilities of ‘other’ narratives that could inform justice-oriented alternative governance.
Ultimately, this research critically reframes sinking cities as phenomena that extend beyond physical processes. This will allow for reflections on how alternative environmental imaginaries could be shaped and, further, challenge and reposition the ‘sinking city’ in the sustainable urban agenda.
Primary Supervisor:
Dr Emma Colven