Housing challenges in sinking coastal city: rethinking urban housing in subsidence area for a more resilient community

Abstract

Housing in coastal cities is facing complex environmental hazards. The risk of being permanently submerged caused by sea level rise-related flooding is aggravated by the localized hazards, which is land subsidence. We explored the land subsidence conditions in the housing zone of Semarang City using overlay spatial analysis, and we expand the discussion to the regulatory aspect and local adaptation through content analysis. We found that challenges in housing zone are the severe subsidence that is occurring on dense housing zone, regulation that still less sensitive towards incorporating the slow onset disaster and not properly provided housing hydrological consideration nor the water provision, and poor drainage system as well as limited adaptation capacity that makes people lives in a false harmony of being resilient. Affordable alternative housing such as stilt house and drainage infrastructure improvement as well as detailing and reframing building regulation that is adequate to address both subsidence and flooding is undeniably important to ensure the adequate housing is accessible for all coastal city residents.