Metropolitan areas, such as Greater Bandung in Indonesia, are a vital geographic unit for nations to sustain economic growth and development. However, they blur the boundaries between cities and peripheral regions, and make traditional city boundaries, often imposed by administrative needs, essentially obsolete. The importance of an integrated approach to development and disaster preparedness is particularly acute when they are threatened by a range of natural, technical and biological hazards, including pandemics such as COVID-19.

Greater Bandung is located in a mountainous plateau region in the central-west portion of West Java province and has the third highest population of any metropolitan area in Indonesia. It is surrounded by active volcanoes, a number of faults and complex river systems that pose significant hazards, including earthquakes, volcano eruptions, frequent floods and landslides.

In this project, researchers in the UK and Indonesia will work with actors at the National, Provincial and City levels in the Bandung Metropolitan area, and build upon the results of a previous study that won the 2019 Newton Prize for Indonesia. They will map and seek to better integrate the key actors involved in disaster risk reduction, climate change, and pandemic preparedness. They will also increase the capacity of provincial and local actors in the Greater Bandung Metropolitan area to address the threats to economic assets and people posed by disaster risk, including developing threats such as pandemics and climate change, that are creating a ‘new normal’.

The project will reduce disaster risk, including human and economic losses, increase pandemic preparedness, and create more resilient, connected communities. It will directly contribute to Indonesia’s efforts in working towards the targets set out in the 2015 global agreements on disaster risk reduction, climate change and sustainable development.