Emerging housing choices for community resilience capacity in flood-prone areas of Bandung Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

The common response of the public sector to the annual flooding of riverside settlements is to relocate the communities to secure housing areas. Within such response, the communities are faced with limited housing choices that potentially hinder their community resilience and they resist the redevelopment process. This research investigates the indicators of housing choices to measure community resilience capacity in riverside settlements. It uses a mixed-method research design to explore the resilience of the communities in two kampongs along the Citarum River in Bandung Regency, Indonesia, which regularly face flooding during monsoon season. A questionnaire survey of 105 household heads was used as the basis for variance and regression analysis. The paper measures resilience capacity of communities in facing floods using three indicators: survival capacity, perception of the housing redevelopment process, and the capacity to contribute to the housing product. The survival capacity is indicated by the length of stay at the location. Meanwhile, the houses’ use value and exchange value determine the community’s perception of the housing redevelopment process. Lastly, the contribution of the housing product is implied in the housing design quality in incremental development. The three indicators for assessing the resilience capacity of communities demonstrate the importance of housing choices during the redevelopment process in flood-prone areas.