Do we care enough? revisiting land subsidence and coastal spatial planning policy in Semarang, Indonesia

Abstract

Land subsidence is a common unsustainable pattern of land use on young sediment coasts worldwide, such as Semarang coastal area. The impact had already transformed its northeast area become permanently tidal flooded, damage in houses and streets, and economic loss. However, local government efforts are noticeably as band-aid measures, which can lead to further mismanagement in halting land subsidence. Given that, this research aimed to evaluate how the latest coastal spatial planning policy in Semarang responds to its geological hazards. This type of research is a content analysis of various spatial planning policy documents, coastal zoning plans, regional spatial planning, and strategic environmental assessment. The results show that, although land subsidence is already mentioned, no specific zoning plan or development programs were applied. Also, rather than creating more in-depth law in groundwater management or other activities that exaggerate land subsidence rates, the northeast shorelines’ structural measures are preferable. A key point of the result concluded that the local government should develop more strict laws in land subsidence to prevent more intense activities on land, together with vigorous law enforcement. Any structural measures should be planned and built effectively to avert more threatening problems to the regions.