[Urban & Water Remediation]: An Envolved Infrastructure

Abstract

Water is of paramount significance; it sustains all life on planet earth – physically and psychologically. Since early civilizations, survival has literally depended around water. Cities were developed around water and nature’s geographical features. People had to understand how the water moved on the site. As the cities and their populations exponentially increased, people could no longer find suitable settlements near water. In result developments were formed solely around human needs, and nature was an afterthought brought into the city through manmade structures. Urbanization led to the abuse and over exploitation of water. Human’s interfered with nature’s hydrological systems through hydromodification. These hydromodification activities commonly include channelization, canalization, and dams, which have led to the destruction of many ecosystems. People have become detached from nature and no longer share an intimate connection with the water, as the people in ancient civilizations once did. Water comes at the turn of a knob for most people. Cities are in need of a design intervention, one that takes nature and water into account, a design that can reestablish the connection between people and water. Through the design of multifunctional infrastructural systems that take social and ecological needs into account, water can continue to sustain all life. The potential for utilizing infrastructure to solve multiple problems will require an evolved infrastructure.