Leiden University Student Repository

Fakkeldij, Lara (2020)

Growing Cities Underwater: A Comparative Study of Two Southeast Asian Cities

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

Southeast Asia is a region at high risk of various natural disasters, with flooding being one of them. Often thought of as a purely natural hazard, in reality it is amplified by social, political and economic factors. Urban flooding in particular is a problem heavily influenced by these factors. Nevertheless, the problem is still frequently treated as a natural one that can be solved by technological measures. I argue that this approach is not efficient and forms the reason why urban flooding has not been solved yet. Instead, a deeper understanding of society is necessary in order to find sustainable solutions that benefit everyone. In the current situation, the urban poor are more at risk than the wealthy and mitigation efforts should consider these inequalities. Only by actively fighting inequality as underlying cause of urban flooding is it possible to ease the impacts of urban flooding and to create a resilient society. This thesis looks at the cases of Metro Manila and Bangkok...Show moreSoutheast Asia is a region at high risk of various natural disasters, with flooding being one of them. Often thought of as a purely natural hazard, in reality it is amplified by social, political and economic factors. Urban flooding in particular is a problem heavily influenced by these factors. Nevertheless, the problem is still frequently treated as a natural one that can be solved by technological measures. I argue that this approach is not efficient and forms the reason why urban flooding has not been solved yet. Instead, a deeper understanding of society is necessary in order to find sustainable solutions that benefit everyone. In the current situation, the urban poor are more at risk than the wealthy and mitigation efforts should consider these inequalities. Only by actively fighting inequality as underlying cause of urban flooding is it possible to ease the impacts of urban flooding and to create a resilient society. This thesis looks at the cases of Metro Manila and Bangkok to obtain a clearer picture of the complexity of the problem.Show less

urban flooding

urbanisation

inequality

mitigation strategies

Metro Manila

Bangkok

Author

Fakkeldij, Lara

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

South and Southeast Asia

Supervisors

Hadiprayitno, Irene

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en