Megacities and the Global Environment

muramatsu Shin RIHN

hayashi Kengo RIHN

okabe Akiko Faculty of Engineering, Chiba University kagotani Naoto Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University kato Hironori Department of Civil Engineering, the University of Tokyo tanigawa Ryuichi Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo fukami Naoko Organization for Islamic Area Studies, Waseda University murakami Akinobu Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba yamashita Yuko Graduate School of Commerce and Management, Hitotsubashi University

Cities today support half of the Earth's population. This project investigates the causes and effects of rapid urbanization in the megacity of greater Jakarta, and the kinds of governance and everyday human practices that can address, in a unified manner, the urban ecosystem and the key human institutions affecting it. In this context, this project describes megacities as dynamic environments comprised of both human and non-human elements; the challenge is to develop conceptual and practical tools that can support harmonious relations within and between these elements. The project is therefore fundamentally interdisciplinary, historical, spatial, driven by real problems in the world, and solution-oriented.

Background and objectives

The great amount of human activity concentrated in megacities causes environmental problems at local to global scales. Megacities consume great quantities of material, and produce great quantities of waste; they simultaneously cause some of the most pressing environmental problems and are the sites of significant environmental degradation. Many megacities are emerging in developing countries in the tropical monsoon region characterized by highly dynamic biophysical environments. Social practices and urban management methods are often not adequate to the pressures of megacity systems.

The central study area is Jabodetabek, the metropolitan area surrounding Jakarta, Indonesia, where, despite fast-paced urban development and in-migration, paddy rice cultivation remains a principal source of livelihood. The direct and indirect environmental impact of urban expansion, increasing demand for basic needs and services such as food, water and shelter, and the need to maintain and create viable human livelihoods often involve undesirable trade-offs. As cities continue to increase in size and number; their success depends on humanity’s ability to increase and make use of its archive of ‘urban knowledge’. Meanwhile, the cumulative wisdom that enabled humankind to coexist with ecosystems through great periods of time, what we here call ‘eco-knowledge’, has been gradually buried deep within the collective human memory.

In this context, project research will describe the historical conditions associated with megaurbanization in Indonesia, as well as the recent and contemporary factors contributing to Jabodetabek's most significant environmental problems, including frequent flood, heat island effect, loss of biodiversity and social disparity linked to urban vulnerability. The project uses a GIS to describe the spatial growth of the city and its impact on surrounding environment. Project researchers are also interested in the scalar dynamics revealed by examining environmental problems from the perspectives of several different stakeholders and communities.

Project approach

This project is designed to develop a common understanding of a city beyond the limits of specific disciplines (Fig. 1). Much project research is based in the natural and social sciences, including researchers from ecology, hydraulic engineering, architectural planning, urban history, distributive sociology, fisheries science and urban sociology. And yet, since complex environmental problems cannot be remedied by single solutions, such direct descriptive methods of modern science are combined with fundamental methods linked to social consciousness, such as education and community studies. At the same time, a wide range of local ecological knowledge can also found in cities. If recognized, such knowledge can also be applied to local problems. In eliciting and combining multiple traditions of knowledge, the project seeks to develop flexible methods relevant to the everyday lives of individuals, and that can also scale up to address the livability of the city as a whole (Fig. 2).

Figure 2  Environmental problems associated with cities

Cities have a large impact on the global environment but they also provide great benefits to humanity. They do not simply cause problems, but also contain solutions.

Recent achievements and coming tasks

The last academic year saw the following three achievements:

1) Development of methods for analyzing variations in environmental load due to changes in the built environment

Jabodetabek is experiencing a significant amount of building activity. The project’s Built Environment Team is calculating the total volume of building material stock in Jakarta, the volume of CO2 generated in the use of construction materials, and the vulnerability of city buildings to various disasters, including earthquakes.

2) Impact assessment of environmental warming due to urbanization

The Natural Environment Group is analyzing the impact of advancing urbanization on the heat island problem, increase in flood risk, and decline in biodiversity. With the Jakarta suburbs as target area, researchers have used interviews, field survey, satellite image analysis, 3D CAD simulation and other methods to describe abandonment of rice paddies, their conversion to housing blocks, and the decrease in wooded areas in the last thirty years.

3) Literature review and analysis for establishing a sustainability index (CSI)

The Urban Assessment Index Team analyzed almost twenty existing urban sustainability indices, including an environmental sustainability index (ESI) and an environmental performance index (EPI), in order to describe the need and goals for a new City Sustainability Index (CSI). Project researchers have also been preparing to conduct intensive micro-scale field work in Jakarta’s high-density, low-income areas. As the CSI advances, it will be possible to begin to build a comparative database with megacities in China, India, and Latin American countries.