Wet Grounds: Emerging Landscapes of Storage

Abstract

To capitalize on the range of opportunities for economic revitalization in emerging tropical economies, Wet Grounds: Emerging Landscapes of Storage, investigates the urban development patterns that are characteristic of tropical latitudes and identifies those which support the growth of hydraulic accumulation methods throughout the region. Utilizing the Chao Phraya River Plain in Thailand (Fig.1) as a testing ground and looking to storage as both an ecological and economic strategy, this design research project outlines a two-prong water storage strategy. Primarily, the strategy aims to expand methods of retention, distribution, and circulation of rainwater. Secondly, the strategy develops ways to manage water flows often caused by urbanization, occurring in the manufacturing corridors of river deltas. These two aims are achieved while developing ways of managing water through agricultural and industrial systems that enable the economic diversification of local markets (Fig. 2). Wet Grounds reveals an opportunity to foster new urbanization networks in Thailand. Given a landscape facing industrial growth and climate complexities, different water storage infrastructures will work to support emerging industries and farms. Within this developing field of hydrologic infrastructure, distinctive industrial nodes provide the flexible and logistical capacity of landscapes of hydraulic accumulation as a process for capital generation (Fig. 3). Wet grounds emphasizes the need to build a contemporary climatic and spatial strategy that utilizes rainwater storage to support responsible water management for agricultural, industrial, and domestic uses at the regional level.

Keywords

Water Storage / Water Distribution / Water Circulation / Industrial Corridors / Cultivated Zones

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press