Circular Water Stories

Abstract

Professional water managers, due to a rise in population, have taken over authority of the living water systems (circular water system) in which there is a self-evident exchange between the natural system and the (human) water chain. This led to an administrative approach to the water system in many - especially western - countries. Water systems were separated into categories like drinking water, drainage, irrigation, sewage systems, and water safety systems, with centralised management. The bond that traditionally existed between communities and ‘their’ water was literally and figuratively cut off and became not only controlled from the top down, but was also often invisible, amplified by technical innovations or even more disturbingly by a lack of water. This industrialisation caused a change from communities of water workers - aware and knowledgeable about the importance of water as the source of life and shaper of the cultivated landscape - to passive users. 

Central to this Spool issue, Landscape Metropolis #7, are contributions that investigate traditional water systems as a source of inspiration for today’s challenges. Due to the fact that there are so many interesting contributions there is room for a second issue on: Circular Water Stories Landscape Metropolis #8, which will be published in early 2021.