Abstract
Megacities are particularly vulnerable to the future challenges of population growth and climate change. The majority of people living in megacities are poor and reside within slums. Rather than seeing slums as a problem, though, this paper suggests that they be considered as a solution to the challenges arising from mega-urban complexity. Results based on a case study of Jakarta show that the urban poor have developed forms of resilience that are mainly based on collective action, or so-called social capital. At the same time, empirical data show that technocratic approaches to urban planning are unable to keep up with the dynamic nature of urban sprawl. Instead of increasing the transfer of expert knowledge and technology to megacities, this paper suggests that urban planning should start from solutions already developed on the ground. Promoting a citizen perspective might also be more efficient in economic terms.
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Wilhelm, M. (2011). The Role of Community Resilience in Adaptation to Climate Change: The Urban Poor in Jakarta, Indonesia. In: Otto-Zimmermann, K. (eds) Resilient Cities. Local Sustainability, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0785-6_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0785-6_5
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