Assembling territories of floods and slums in Pontianak, Indonesia

Abstract

Urbanization is accelerating globally, as are the frequency and severity of climate-related disasters. Such phenomena are especially notable in Southeast Asia, where urban floods are often most severe for people living in low-income and irregular settlements located close to rivers or coastlines. The interplay between the overlapping dynamics of flooding and marginalization of “slum” settlements represents a critical research challenge. This study offers deeper insights into how water-related problems intersect with urban spaces of exclusion and exposure, empirically illuminating connections between environmental challenges and spatial inequalities. By zooming in on the city of Pontianak, Indonesia, this article examines dynamic interactions between socio-material assemblages of flooding and urban settlements. We develop a qualitative case study based on interviews with governance actors and residents of riverfront neighborhoods to argue that the processes of territorializing floods and slums as objects of concern are mutually influential and co-constitutive. As a result, ambiguous urban spaces emerge relationally through the territorializing, deterritorializing, and reterritorializing practices of a range of actors, who engage strategically with their boundaries to different ends. The paper contributes to operationalization of theoretical concepts from assemblage theory and sheds light on the political, dynamic, and contested entanglement of two important urban problems.