Kaligawe and Sawah Besar are the urban villages located in the low-lying areas that have been experiencing an increased risk of flooding and tidal inundation. Only ± 1.5 km away from the sea and 1.5 to 4.5 meters above sea level, they reported no less than 30 flood events annually from 2012 to 2018.  The current road network is not suitable for evacuation in case of fires and flooding events. The area has limited accessibility to the main roads, poor connection to public transportation, and insufficient walking and cycling zones. High levels of motor-vehicle traffic and carbon emissions are critical issues to be addressed.

The area is located in a land subsidence zone (up to 17 cm per year in certain locations) due to the excessive groundwater extraction to meet both personal daily needs and industrial needs. Wastewater treatment and collection are also still not available, and the solid waste issue is compounded by the fact that most of the local people deposit garbage into the river.

Almost 70% of the total 19,300 inhabitants (2018) are in productive ages, with most individuals working in informal sectors. Accordingly, job opportunities are vital for local populations, as are access to communal education facilities and community support networks, including child- and elder-care.

Given these issues, the proposed strategy aims to:

• Contribute to the reduction of flood occurrence in the project area by developing the drainage network, increasing the water storage, and reducing runoff
• Provide the ecodistrict with a resilient mobility infrastructure that will guarantee access to existing and projected functions
• Engage with the community from the beginning of the Ecodistrict Program and improve its economic resilience
• Develop and create urban utilities that will concomitantly reduce pollution in the perimeter of the Ecodistrict and beyond

Based on an understanding of the context, a spatial framework is defined in order to connect all the interventions into one easily communicable narrative.

The project is structured in four main clusters which address the issues above:

• Blue Network
• Green Mobility
• Efficient Public Facilities
• Sustainable Urban Utilities

Existing wetlands and ponds in Semarang are connected by drainage and collector canals to each other. They form a blue network, which is one continuous system with a large retention area. Drainage canals perpendicular to the main north-south collector canals follow a long and narrow urban block typology. The ponds and wetlands are protected and made accessible in order to create public awareness towards the significance of the wetlands. Now located at the back of the houses, they are made into public spaces with boardwalks around the watersides. The adjacent dwellings will have their front facades turned towards the water. Occasionally, they are connected to a dry, open area offering space for children to play and others to practice sports or enjoy the green landscape.

The Ecodistrict site provides a shared-space principle, where cars, bikes and pedestrians interact safely and sustainably. In the residential neighbourhoods, the trees are placed in the street itself, providing sufficient space for a car to pass, but at the same time slowing it down.

The streets subsequently become a true green mobility project; they promote walkability and therefore reduce the need for motorized transport.

By renewing the infrastructure of an existing market, efficient public facilities are used to improve the economic benefits for the residents. The improvement of a market will create a food court and engage the creative sector as well as Kampong residents.

The buildings will reduce their impact on climate change significantly by using resilience-focused designs as well as natural cooling systems and bio-based construction materials.

Sustainable urban utilities, such as wastewater collection and treatment, and a solid waste treatment plant, are implemented to reduce pollution on the streets and open spaces and to keep the water in the Blue Network clean. Clean water access will be made possible for each household, reducing the need for underground water extraction and preserving the territorial assets.

The current Sustainable Urban Development in Indonesia (SUDI) Ecodistrict program grew out of the Green City Development Program (GCDP), originally launched in 2011 by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH). In 2013, MoPWH provided a methodology to explain how to design and implement ecodistricts based on the eight “attributes” for guiding the development of green cities, which were the backbone of the GCDP.

On this basis, in order to further build upon local knowledge, the expert team developed a tool adapted to the existing strategy, based on eight key Attributes to evaluate the impact of the project:

• Green Water and Sanitation
• Green Economy
• Green Building
• Green Community
• Green Solid Waste
• Green Energy
• Green Open Space
• Green Transportation

For each Attribute, Targets - Sub targets - Technical Recommendations and Indicators have been defined. This structure creates a tool (Table of Indicators) which plays the role of a benchmark for individual Ecodistrict programmes to reflect on during the definition, design and post evaluation of projects. The table and list of Indicators is a potential guideline for future projects within Ecodistrict boundaries. With a list of Indicators measured periodically, owners of Ecodistrict will also be aware of the gap to be fulfilled and build for themselves a pipeline of possible interventions.

In this framework, and related to the Attributes mentioned above, the expected outcomes foreseen for the Semarang Ecodistrict Program are related to the following topics:

• Drainage improvement
• Solid Waste Management
• Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
• Settlement Development
• Local Economy Resilience

After stakeholder meetings were held and sites had been visited, the main objective in Semarang was determined to be decreasing vulnerability via flood reduction through urban design. While the expert team very carefully analysed the governance structures and the boundaries of the legal framework the projects operate in, it proved not always easy to navigate the political landscape of various policy objectives of the national level partners. Enabling cross-department communication among national stakeholders was at the same time important for the project success, yet beyond the scope of the assignment. Therefore, the expert team tried to balance representation and communication between Indonesian partners, French donors, and the team itself through its presence in Jakarta and frequent visits in the pilot cities. In a similar fashion, the interests of the municipality (often related to new infrastructure), the interests of the national government (meeting certain policy indicators, e.g. PUPR’s targets regarding access to potable water, slums reduction, and access to sanitation), and the results of the expert assessment, needed to be harmonised.

We also found our city partners to be engaged, but having less technical capacity, while the national partners were knowledgeable, but overloaded, with the donor agency not yet having had the opportunity to form profound relations with the Indonesian stakeholders to successfully address this human resource imbalance.

https://www.tspa.eu/portfolio/sustainable-urban-development-in-indonesia/