Coastal Reform: Muara Angke 2100

Current protection measures such as seawalls prove ineffective for both humans and nature, and existing government plans lack consideration for communities living in coastal Jakarta. If no action is taken, thousands of human lives will be affected directly or indirectly, and habitats such as mangrove forests are at risk of sinking. Instead of ‘hard’ measures that provide no advantage, can we incorporate existing natural elements to save the city from sinking? Since Jakarta still has to function as a city, what kind of infrastructure would help achieve an urban-nature balance?

The project sees the opportunity of adapting the concept of 'dike rings' from the Netherlands into an 'archipelago strategy' at an urban scale, which could maximize land retained by placing the dikes in the periphery of each region. Then, the project zooms into a site called Muara Angke in North Jakarta. Other than having one of the highest rates of land subsidence, the site faces significant water-related problems such as flooding and lack of potable water access. The project develops contextualized architectural systems that addresses these problems and proposes phases for the site to transition from its current state towards the ideal in 2100. The system uses the dike strategy to turn water threats into opportunities instead, such as embedding water treatment facility in the dikes that surround and protect the city. The phases assess the resident’s concerns regarding relocation and allows them to stay in the site within the transition, continuing their livelihoods. At the same time, the phases inform key urban functions and its placement in the final masterplan. Within the masterplan, the project focuses on some key components and developed kit-of-parts that focuses on the concept of ‘Appropriable Infrastructures’. Complementing the generally top-down approach of coastal protection with something more bottom-up, appropriable empty spaces are included as part of the infrastructure where people and nature can appropriate it according to their needs and capability. In addition to addressing socio-economic concerns, this approach would allow faster adaptation to the new system and at the same time maintain cultural values as we race against climate change. This concept is explored further in the design of kit-of-parts and various components of the masterplan.