Waterscapes
WATERSCAPE
URBAN DESIGN TERM PAPER
INTRODUCTION
Water has supported the landscapes of our civilizations. Earth’s evolution and transformation is due to water. Nowadays we are facing complex urban development processes leading to completely new challenges concerning the management and design of urban infrastructure systems and landscapes. Water can improve spatial quality by creating an attractive and spacious place. Landscape architects, planners and designers know better the fundamentals of water and its power in transforming our landscapes. This means that it is water that allows us to reaffirm our commitments to landscape. The potentials of nowadays water infrastructure systems for shaping urban form and meeting human, ecological and aesthetic objectives have almost been lost. The processes of extreme and unpredictable urban growth and decline are leading to huge challenges concerning the affordability and functioning of present water conceptions and demand new innovative solutions. The appearance of water infrastructure systems, further accentuating natural physical landscape structure became a visual and spatial component of structuring and organizing cultural landscapes. The relationships between natural and human processes are based on a deep understanding of complex processes. Water infrastructure was able of creating synergies with other important urban functions, serving as an open space network for social needs. However the increasing pressure, intensity and speed of urbanization led to the disappearance of any visible forms of water infrastructure in most cities. The transformation of nature through urban development has resulted in a disturbed ecosystem. Among the many consequences of a disturbed hydrologic cycle are polluted waterways because of sewer overflows and urban runoff, subsiding land due to a diminished water table, and city dwellers that are deprived of experiencing the fundamental life force of water. Urban infrastructure built
URBAN DESIGN TERM PAPER
INTRODUCTION
Water has supported the landscapes of our civilizations. Earth’s evolution and transformation is due to water. Nowadays we are facing complex urban development processes leading to completely new challenges concerning the management and design of urban infrastructure systems and landscapes. Water can improve spatial quality by creating an attractive and spacious place. Landscape architects, planners and designers know better the fundamentals of water and its power in transforming our landscapes. This means that it is water that allows us to reaffirm our commitments to landscape. The potentials of nowadays water infrastructure systems for shaping urban form and meeting human, ecological and aesthetic objectives have almost been lost. The processes of extreme and unpredictable urban growth and decline are leading to huge challenges concerning the affordability and functioning of present water conceptions and demand new innovative solutions. The appearance of water infrastructure systems, further accentuating natural physical landscape structure became a visual and spatial component of structuring and organizing cultural landscapes. The relationships between natural and human processes are based on a deep understanding of complex processes. Water infrastructure was able of creating synergies with other important urban functions, serving as an open space network for social needs. However the increasing pressure, intensity and speed of urbanization led to the disappearance of any visible forms of water infrastructure in most cities. The transformation of nature through urban development has resulted in a disturbed ecosystem. Among the many consequences of a disturbed hydrologic cycle are polluted waterways because of sewer overflows and urban runoff, subsiding land due to a diminished water table, and city dwellers that are deprived of experiencing the fundamental life force of water. Urban infrastructure built