In the rapid­ly urban­is­ing cities of Indone­sia and South­east Asia, slums around rivers and flood­plains have become home to the poor­est. The urban poor suf­fer the most from water prob­lems, which have become more fre­quent and rou­tine in recent decades. Since around the end of the 20th cen­tu­ry, urban plan­ning has shift­ed from mas­sive state urban­i­sa­tion projects, includ­ing water man­age­ment that under­pins nation­al eco­nom­ic growth, to gov­er­nance that is socio-eco­log­i­cal­ly sus­tain­able, decen­tralised, and mar­ket-based.

This book address­es the resilience of the urban poor — the abil­i­ty of local com­mu­ni­ties to bounce back in the face of cli­mate dis­as­ters, par­tic­u­lar­ly floods and sea lev­el rise. How does resilience relate to inclu­sive water gov­er­nance, and how does it fit with­in a broad­er frame­work of devel­op­men­tal dis­par­i­ties? The authors address these human and water issues based on their research in a num­ber of rivers in Bima, Pon­tianak, and Man­a­do between 2021–2023.