Makassar, Indonesia’s fifth-largest city and the capital of South Sulawesi province, has a significant population of informal settlers.
Informal settlers number 1.7 million, accounting for 40% of the city’s residents. These communities face substandard housing, lack land tenure and basic services such as sanitation, safe drinking water, and road infrastructure, and are often located in flood-prone areas.
Floodwaters from storms are a regular occurrence for informal settlers. Rains would flood the area, submerging its narrow waterways and making it difficult for residents to move around, forcing them to wade or ride makeshift bamboo rafts.
Floodwaters contaminated with sewage and human waste pose a health hazard to residents and to children who play or swim in them.
However, things are looking up for Makassar’s informal settlements. Thanks to the Revitalising Informal Settlements and Environments (RISE) program.
A group led by Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, implemented RISE in partnership with the City of Makassar, Hasanuddin University, and local agencies to provide safe on-site water and decentralized sanitation solutions using a community-driven design.
As these informal settlements are waterlogged, the traditional sanitation system won’t apply. RISE officials designed a system that integrates nature’s ability to absorb and purify waste.
They developed a blackwater treatment wetland to filter human waste and remove pollutants before the treated water is released into the environment or used to fertilize vegetation or crops in the area.
The project built hundreds of shared toilets that connect to neighborhood sanitation systems, wetland areas that filter wastewater, installed rainwater tanks, upgraded drainage, and built nearly 3,000 square meters of raised pathways to allow residents to move around flood-prone neighborhoods safely.
This infrastructure helped reduce flooding, allow residents’ mobility even during extreme weather events, and connect them to the market and the city center.
As a result of the project, over 1,400 residents benefit directly from improved sanitation, drainage, and access infrastructure, and around 6,000 residents benefit from a clean environment and new public spaces it created.
The most distinctive aspect of the RISE project, and what contributed to its success, is its community-centered and participatory approach. Because the residents are the best people to understand their challenges and opportunities, they were involved in project planning and design.
Residents had a say on where structures would be best suited. Involving the community throughout the project’s lifecycle gives them a sense of ownership. It helps them understand the system, enabling them to maintain and care for the shared infrastructure and vegetation.
Informal settlers where RISE projects have been implemented served as intervention groups, allowing researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of the RISE program. Researchers can measure how improved sanitation, drainage, and nature-based infrastructure are influencing public health.
RISE’s positive outcome led the city of Makassar to identify an additional 30 informal settlements. At the same time, the model is being adapted for other Pacific island states, such as Suva, Fiji.
While urban areas rely on traditional centralized water and wastewater systems with large pipe networks that serve broader communities, these systems are not always practical in some areas or communities due to their geographic locations and socio-economic status.
This is where decentralized systems come into play, particularly when the health and well-being of residents and the surrounding environment are at stake. There is increasing interest in applying decentralized water and wastewater infrastructure in these special areas – informal settlements, small island countries, and remote locations – where centralized systems are not feasible.
A decentralized water and wastewater system is as effective as a centralized system and offers several benefits, including cost efficiency, flexibility, and scalability.
Additionally, it can help build community resilience and improve residents’ quality of life and health, as demonstrated by the RISE beneficiaries in Makassar’s informal settlements.
Watch the video: Fixing Flooding and Sanitation in Makassar’s Informal Settlements
Sources
Ray, M. & Shin, J. (2026, April 8). In This Indonesian City, Community-Led Design Is Improving Water and Sanitation. Retrieved from https://www.wri.org/insights/indonesia-community-led-design-improves-water-sanitation?
Revitalizing Informal Settlements and Environments (RISE). (2026). WRI Ross Center. Retrieved from https://prizeforcities.org/project/rise-revitalizing-informal-settlements-and-environments
PHOTO CREDIT: Lossari coastal area in Makassar, Indonesia by Bluesatellite – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
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