Civil Engineering and Architecture 13(4): 3366-3379, 2025 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/cea.2025.130437 Vertical Adaptation Narratives of Urban Kampung Facing Recurrent Tidal Floods Paramita Atmodiwirjo 1,* , Arnis Rochma Harani 2 , Adjie Pamungkas 3 , Kristanti Dewi Paramita 1 , Yandi Andri Yatmo 1 1 Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia 2 Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Diponegoro, Indonesia 3 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Indonesia Received April 18, 2025; Revised June 16, 2025; Accepted July 23, 2025 Cite This Paper in the Following Citation Styles (a): [1] Paramita Atmodiwirjo, Arnis Rochma Harani, Adjie Pamungkas, Kristanti Dewi Paramita, Yandi Andri Yatmo , "Vertical Adaptation Narratives of Urban Kampung Facing Recurrent Tidal Floods," Civil Engineering and Architecture, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 3366 - 3379, 2025. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2025.130437. (b): Paramita Atmodiwirjo, Arnis Rochma Harani, Adjie Pamungkas, Kristanti Dewi Paramita, Yandi Andri Yatmo (2025). Vertical Adaptation Narratives of Urban Kampung Facing Recurrent Tidal Floods. Civil Engineering and Architecture, 13(4), 3366 - 3379. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2025.130437. Copyright©2025 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract This study explores the vertical adaptation narratives in urban dwellings impacted by daily tidal floods. This study is part of the growing discussion of urban livelihood under the increasing rate of climate-induced disasters. This research explores the adaptation narratives of the Tambaklorok dwellers, a coastal urban kampung in Semarang, Central Java. The study observes and maps how an urban community adapts their living spaces against recurrent tidal floods, which inundate their dwelling daily due to land subsidence and rising sea levels. This study highlights such adaptations as vertical narratives, demonstrating how local communities occupy their living spaces in response to the water inflow at various heights. Different spatial strategies take place in multiple vertical positions of living space, to either redirect and block water temporarily; to protect the use of space during the inundation, and to recover and maintain space and objects after the water recedes. This paper reflects on how vertical adaptation of domestic spaces forms urban vertical strategies amidst recurrent disasters, expanding the urban design practice and policies for disaster resilience. Keywords Vertical Narratives, Local Adaptation, Recurrent Flood, Coastal Urban Kampung 1. Introduction This study explores vertical narratives of dwelling adaptation in flooded coastal urban neighbourhoods. This study is part of the growing architectural discourse driven by the increasing rate of environmental crisis, creating extreme events of disasters globally. Indonesia is in the top third of countries facing climate risk globally, and the total population likely to be exposed to permanent flooding due to sea-level rise will reach over 4.2 million people between 2070 onwards [1,2]. Coastal flooding creates the highest risk of mortality rates in comparison to other kinds of floods such as riverine floods or flash floods [3]. Such climate risks have also led to fragmentation and damage of habitat, failure of agriculture and destruction of biodiversity, as well as an unseen rate of resource loss and contamination [4]. Changes of nature currently happen more unpredictably, creating more threats and risks of vulnerability [5]. Despite the growing rate of such occurrence of events, responses towards floods are often varied and uncoordinated [6].