UrbanHydrologyWaterGovernance

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Cities around the world face increasingly complex water challenges driven by rapid urbanization, climate change, land subsidence, and intensifying extreme weather. Flooding, groundwater depletion, and coastal vulnerability are reshaping how urban systems manage water resources and infrastructure. This four-week intensive course explores the hydrological, environmental, and governance dynamics shaping urban water systems globally, with particular attention to rapidly growing coastal and deltaic cities. The course integrates perspectives from hydrology, environmental monitoring, economics, water governance, and climate adaptation to examine how cities understand and manage water risks. While the course draws on comparative examples from cities across Southeast Asia and around the world, Jakarta will serve as the primary case study context. The combination of extreme rainfall, land use change, land subsidence, coastal flooding, and complex governance structures make Jakarta and important lens for examining challenges confronting many coastal megacities. Through lectures, guest speakers, field-based activities, and a collaborative research project, the course connects scientific understanding, policy frameworks, and practical solutions for urban water management.