Urban Toponymy as Flood Memory: Analyzing Water-Related Place Names in Jakarta, Indonesia

Authors

  • Asep Mulyadi

    Faculty of Social Sciences Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, 40154, Indonesia
  • Moh. Dede

    Faculty of Social Sciences Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, 40154, Indonesia

    Environmental Science Program, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, 45363, Indonesia

    School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom
  • Millary Agung Widiawaty

    School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom

    Cakrabuana Institute for Geoinformation, Environment and Social Studies, Cirebon 45188, Indonesia
  • Siti Nurbayani

    Faculty of Social Sciences Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, 40154, Indonesia
  • Heni Sustiati

    Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN), Central Jakarta, Jakarta 10340, Indonesia
  • Bayu Iqbal Anshari

    Cakrabuana Institute for Geoinformation, Environment and Social Studies, Cirebon 45188, Indonesia
  • Arif Ismail

    Faculty of Social Sciences Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, 40154, Indonesia

    Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sleman 5281, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i7.9604
Received:19 April 2025; Revised:9 June 2025; Accepted: 20 June 2025; Published Online: 16 July 2025

Abstract

Jakarta, Indonesia’s flood-prone capital, bears a hydrological legacy embedded in its place names (toponyms). This study examines how urban village toponyms reflect historical water-related landscapes and their implications for contemporary flood risk.  This study examines the relationship between Jakarta's toponyms and its flooding patterns through qualitative descriptive analysis of 104 urban village names identified in flood-prone zones by Jakarta's Bureau of Regional Disaster Management (BPBD Jakarta). We identified 14 toponyms explicitly referencing rivers, 27 tied to water-associated vegetation, and 7 denoting wetlands, revealing a strong correlation between toponyms and ancestral ecological knowledge. Toponymic data collected from the Indonesia Statistics Agency (BPS) and the Dutch East-Indies Topographic Maps reveals diverse linguistic origins including Malay-Betawi, Javanese, Sundanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and Dutch. From 1940 to 2019, landscape transformation analysis demonstrates that today's flood-vulnerable neighborhoods are primarily built on former wetlands, lakes, and agricultural fields, often erasing original toponyms. Historically, toponyms like Danau Sunter or Rawabadak served as implicit flood hazard indicators, yet modern development has disregarded these warnings. We argue that toponym conservation, supported by historical maps and legal frameworks, can preserve indigenous knowledge for disaster mitigation. Water-related names underscore how toponyms encode landscape vulnerabilities now obscured by urbanization. This study highlights the urgency of integrating toponymic wisdom into spatial planning to reinforce flood resilience in rapidly transforming cities, where cultural memory and environmental risk intersect.

Keywords:

Disaster; Java Island; Names Conservation; Urban Area

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Mulyadi, A., Dede, M., Widiawaty, M. A., Nurbayani, S., Sustiati, H., Anshari, B. I., & Ismail, A. (2025). Urban Toponymy as Flood Memory: Analyzing Water-Related Place Names in Jakarta, Indonesia. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(7), 719–729. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i7.9604

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Vol. 7 , Iss. 7 (July 2025)

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Copyright © 2025 Asep Mulyadi, Moh. Dede, Millary Agung Widiawaty, Siti Nurbayani, Heni Sustiati, Bayu Iqbal Anshari, Arif Ismail

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