Home to over 10 million people, 40 per cent of Jakarta is already below sea level. Sinking cities is a global phenomenon, although populous Asian cities top the list with Jakarta being the fastest sinking of them all. That's the reality of many of the world's megacities, especially in coastal areas and urban centres that over-exploit groundwater resources. And if the mattress is made of soft materials like clay (soil composition), it is especially compressible and vulnerable to subsidence. The higher the mattress (depth of groundwater extraction), the more pronounced the depression of the surface. If you place something heavy on top, like a city building, it speeds up the process. If you prick holes in the mattress (extract groundwater), no matter how big or small, the water will start to seep out, emptying the mattress and causing its surface to sink. You can think of it as a mattress filled with water. However, the main reason behind sinking cities today is the anthropogenic changes to the bearing capacity of soil following heavy loading and, especially, excessive extraction of groundwater (or oil and gas). Land subsidence can have natural causes like tectonics, glacial isostatic adjustments and natural sediment compaction. But why is that? And what can be done to make our cities more resilient to land subsidence? Why cities sink Cities all over the world are sinking below sea level damaging infrastructure and increasing flood risks. However, there is another major, yet almost invisible, threat to life in cities the land below us is subsiding. And climate change does not make it any easier to plan and design our future cities. Just as cities can drive prosperity and human progress, the increasing pressure on infrastructure, housing and resources following urbanisation calls for smart solutions. With an additional 2.5 billion urban dwellers by 2050, no questions asked our future is urban. By 2050, we are going to be 9.8 billion people in the world and two thirds will live in cities. Roughly 83 million people is added to the world's population every year. The problem is set to accelerate due to rapid urbanisation and climate change. Over-exploitation of groundwater resources is causing cities around the world to sink below sea-level. Carbon capture utilisation & storage (CCUS)
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