TRANSOCAP-II

Building adaptive capacity through (trans-) local social capital – sea level rise and resilience of coastal communities and households in selected Indonesian second-tier cities (TRANSOCAP II)

TRANSOCAP II focuses on coastal communities in second-tier Indonesian cities, which show high socio-ecological vulnerabilities towards sea level changes and coastal hazards. In the Global South, social networks play an important role for successful adaptation processes of local communities and households, especially in situations where governmental disaster risk reduction is insufficient. Through networks of trust, people are able to organize the access to loans, remittances, information, and knowledge, which are valuable resources for response capacities, adaptation, innovations, and social resilience.

The central research question is:

How are (trans-) local social networks formed, and how does the resulting social capital function as a resource in collective adaptation of local communities in socially and culturally diverse second-tier cities against flooding and sea level rise?

The project understands social capital also as a translocal phenomenon with the aim to overcome the predominant local and place-based focus within hazard research. We are planning to investigate the structure and quality of local and translocal social capital in the Indonesian regional urban centers of Surabaya (Java), Denpasar (Bali), and Padang (Sumatra). These cities extend the case study areas of the first funding period (Jakarta, Semarang, and the rural districts Kendal and Demak). The main assumption of TRANSOCAP II is, that translocal social networks play a stronger role in Surabaya, and especially in the diverse cultural contexts of Denpasar and Padang, than compared to the former study areas Jakarta and Semarang.

A further methodological extension of the first funding period is a more detailed analysis of social networks by adding a networks analysis to the applied mixed-methods approach, which further entail focus-group discussions, a questionnaire household survey, and expert workshops.

Publications:

Bott, L.-M., T. Schöne, J. Illinger, M.H. Haghighi, K. Gisevius, and B. Braun (2021), Land subsidence in Jakarta and Semarang Bay – The relationship between physical processes, risk perception, and household adaptation, Ocean and Coastal Management, vol. 211, doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2021.105775.