Chapter 6
Engagement of Small and Medium-Sized
Manufacturing Enterprises in Individual
Flood Adaptation in Indonesian Coastal
Cities—Implications for Flood
Governance
Thomas Neise, Matthias Garschagen, and Javier Revilla Diez
Abstract Flood risk in urban coastal areas is on the rise due to increased population, urban growth, environmental degradation, and climate change impacts. State
authorities are often overstrained to provide adequate flood risk reduction, including
for small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs), the backbone of
urban economies in Indonesia. SMEs are oftentimes located in coastal areas or
along rivers and are frequently affected by flooding. Hence, they are forced to adapt
individually in order to protect their investment goods, maintain their production
processes, and secure livelihoods of owner and employees. This chapter investigates how SMEs in urban areas are exposed to and respond to floods. We analyze
which kind of flood adaptation measures SMEs implemented and why. The paper
also examines the enablers and barriers to convene SMEs around collective flood
adaptation measures in order to alleviate flood risk more substantially. The study
uses a mixed-method approach and takes Jakarta and Semarang as examples for the
empirical research. Interviews with representatives of firms, business associations,
industrial parks management, and public authorities give an understanding of SMEs’
adaptation challenges. A quantitative survey of 120 participants presents an overview
of chosen firms’ individual flood adaptation measures. The analysis shows that SMEs
rely on incremental flood adaptation measures (e.g., elevating, pumps) and barely
engage in more substantive or transformative risk reduction measures. The SMEs
hesitate to engage in collective flood adaptation strategies due to a lack of joint
governance mechanisms and sparse support from public authorities and managers
T. Neise (B)
Institute of Geography, Osnabrück University, Seminarstr. 19 a/b, 49074 Osnabrück, Germany
e-mail: thomas.neise@uni-osnabrueck.de
M. Garschagen
Department of Geography, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Luisenstraße 37, 80333
Munich, Germany
e-mail: m.garschagen@lmu.de
J. Revilla Diez
Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Cologne, Germany
e-mail: j.revilladiez@uni-koeln.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Djalante et al. (eds.), Climate Change Research, Policy and Actions in Indonesia,
Springer Climate, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55536-8_6
99
Engagement of Small and Medium-Sized
Manufacturing Enterprises in Individual
Flood Adaptation in Indonesian Coastal
Cities—Implications for Flood
Governance
Thomas Neise, Matthias Garschagen, and Javier Revilla Diez
Abstract Flood risk in urban coastal areas is on the rise due to increased population, urban growth, environmental degradation, and climate change impacts. State
authorities are often overstrained to provide adequate flood risk reduction, including
for small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs), the backbone of
urban economies in Indonesia. SMEs are oftentimes located in coastal areas or
along rivers and are frequently affected by flooding. Hence, they are forced to adapt
individually in order to protect their investment goods, maintain their production
processes, and secure livelihoods of owner and employees. This chapter investigates how SMEs in urban areas are exposed to and respond to floods. We analyze
which kind of flood adaptation measures SMEs implemented and why. The paper
also examines the enablers and barriers to convene SMEs around collective flood
adaptation measures in order to alleviate flood risk more substantially. The study
uses a mixed-method approach and takes Jakarta and Semarang as examples for the
empirical research. Interviews with representatives of firms, business associations,
industrial parks management, and public authorities give an understanding of SMEs’
adaptation challenges. A quantitative survey of 120 participants presents an overview
of chosen firms’ individual flood adaptation measures. The analysis shows that SMEs
rely on incremental flood adaptation measures (e.g., elevating, pumps) and barely
engage in more substantive or transformative risk reduction measures. The SMEs
hesitate to engage in collective flood adaptation strategies due to a lack of joint
governance mechanisms and sparse support from public authorities and managers
T. Neise (B)
Institute of Geography, Osnabrück University, Seminarstr. 19 a/b, 49074 Osnabrück, Germany
e-mail: thomas.neise@uni-osnabrueck.de
M. Garschagen
Department of Geography, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Luisenstraße 37, 80333
Munich, Germany
e-mail: m.garschagen@lmu.de
J. Revilla Diez
Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Cologne, Germany
e-mail: j.revilladiez@uni-koeln.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Djalante et al. (eds.), Climate Change Research, Policy and Actions in Indonesia,
Springer Climate, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55536-8_6
99