ABSTRACT
This chapter narrates a prehistory of the NCICD Master Plan through excavation of its entwined social and environmental conditions of possibility. How did such a costly and seemingly far-fetched plan of urban transformation emerge as a plausible course of action? What were the short and longue 139durée circumstances that enabled a group of government-backed experts from the former colonizing power to persuade Indonesian leadership – some 70 years after Indonesia’s declaration of independence – that a massive, multi-billion-dollar seawall in the shape of the national icon was the most viable solution for securing a dry and prosperous future for the imperilled capital city?
