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Paper short abstract:

Integrating a postcolonial perspective, this paper argues: disaster exposure risk is linked to spatial inequality and fragmented urban citizenship in the postcolonial South. Focusing on Jakarta, the study draws evidential support from a unique household-spatial dataset constructed for this analysis.

Paper long abstract:

In the ongoing discourse, disaster exposure risk is acknowledged as a manifestation of unresolved development problems. This paper revisits the relationship between risk and development dynamics from a postcolonial perspective, embedding this analysis within the broader framework of 'conceptual reanimation'—a process integral to the decolonization of ideas, involving both critique and reconstruction of discursive spaces. The paper posits that risk is intricately linked to the structural conditions of spatial inequality and fragmented urban citizenship in the postcolonial South. Anchoring these discussions in the specific context of Jakarta, the analysis relies on a distinctive household-spatial dataset created by connecting household-level data from the fifth wave of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS5, 2014–15) with neighborhood-level information on Jakarta's subdistricts and administrative regions. Supported by empirical findings, the paper presents an argument with two interpretations: a narrow perspective linking risk to deficits in ownership of productive assets and access to public goods and amenities, coupled with a higher level of natural hazards; and a broader interpretation viewing risk as a matter of 'internal exclusion' at the current juncture of unequalizing growth and changing engagement with welfare governance in the developing world.