As part of the SEAC Southeast Asian Waters Seminar series Dr. Emma Colven (University of Oklahoma and SEAC visiting fellow) spoke on Jakarta's water crisis and property development. The talk was chaired by Prof. Hyun Bang Shin.
Talk Abstract
Jakarta's fragmented water supply, high rates of groundwater extraction, and vulnerability to tidal flooding constitute both a water crisis and a major urban planning challenge. Despite these environmental risks, Jakarta remains a site of intense real estate investment and property development.
This talk examines how the real estate industry is affected by and responds to these environmental risks. I ask: how does Jakarta’s water crisis shape the feasibility, profitability, success, or failure of property development? How does the real estate industry understand, and respond to the city's water crisis? I draw on in-depth interviews with various stakeholders in Jakarta and an analysis of secondary sources relating to water and property to examine the strategies through which the private sector negotiates environmental risks that threaten property and profit.
A video recording of this event is available here.
Speaker and Chair Biographies
Dr Emma Colven is Assistant Professor of Global Environment at the University of Oklahoma and SEAC visiting Fellow. Her research explores themes of socio-ecological change, environmental expertise, and environmental politics in cities of the global South.
Prof. Hyun Bang Shin (@urbancommune) is Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science and directs the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre. His research centres on the critical analysis of the political economy of speculative urbanisation, gentrification and displacement, urban spectacles, and urbanism with particular attention to Asian cities. His books include Planetary Gentrification (Polity, 2016), Neoliberal Urbanism, Contested Cities and Housing in Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), Exporting Urban Korea? Reconsidering the Korean Urban Development Experience (Routledge, 2021), and The Political Economy of Mega Projects in Asia: Globalization and Urban Transformation (Routledge, forthcoming). He is Editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, and is also a trustee of the Urban Studies Foundation.
Author Meets ECR
Following the Seminar, Dr Emma Colven hosted a 45 minute informal session from 1.45-2.30pm, specifically for current PhD students. This was a small group discussion around methods, career path, and other topics early career researchers wanted to discuss.