Landscapes - Fall 2015 - (Page 62)
A CRITIQUE
READ BY | LU PAR GEORGE STOCKTON
AN OUT-OF-WATER EXPERIENCE
book info:
Out of Water
Design Solutions for
Arid Regions
By Liat Margolis and
Aziza Chaouni
Foreword by Herbert Dreiseitl
2015: Birkhauser Verlag
GmbH, Basel
Hardcover $44.95;
E-book $59.95
ISBN: 978-3-03821-006-1
With climate change,
dry region issues
become a matter of
national, social and
cultural survival.
LACF is proud to have
provided seed-funding
for this publication.
62 LANDSCAPES PAYSAGES
EN_OUT OF WATER is a very wellproduced, clearly written and extensively
illustrated book that should be of interest
to landscape architects, planners,
environmentalists and engineers working
in the arid regions of our planet. It focuses
upon the spotty ability of arid countries to
come to terms with their impending water
shortfalls. The authors rightly assert that
the lack of appropriate water management
systems and practices reflects a failure of
sustainable human development and of
related design practices.
Over and over again, the authors point
to one of the main drivers in the water
crisis which is overtaking arid regions:
decades of reliance on single function
engineering for water extraction and
utilization, while steadfastly ignoring
centuries of accumulated wisdom in
sustainable living - wisdom that has
been honed throughout dry regions since
pre-industrial times. In fact, if there is a
criticism of Out of Water, it is the shortage
of discussion regarding the many ways
water was harvested and utilized by
peoples across northern Africa and the
Middle East.
A MATTER OF SURVIVAL
For landscape architects working in arid
regions, this book provides an invaluable
primer of regional-specific planning
and design approaches that go beyond
conventional business-as-usual strategies
which have only exacerbated the problem.
Moreover, with climate change, dry region
issues become a matter of national,
social and cultural survival. Yemen and
Jordan, for example, are running out of
water resources and they do not have the
financial capability or energy resources
for hi-tech stop-gaps like desalinization.
Wealthy Middle East countries like Saudi
Arabia and the Emirates are 10 to 15 years
away from exhausting their ground water
reserves and are increasingly dependent
on unsustainable energy and water
production technologies.
Riyadh, a city of nearly six million
people, is supplied with desalinated water
produced on the Arabian Gulf 500 km
away. The plants use either heavy oil or
cheap coal to de-sal seawater. It takes
roughly one barrel of oil to deliver one
barrel of water. The water is pumped uphill
to Riyadh where it is used once and then
flushed into the desert.
New and innovative water-related
environmental infrastructure specific to
regional conditions is urgently needed.
Technologies for capturing already
meager and decreasing precipitation
should become integral parts of urban
infrastructure. Seasonal flooding in arid
regions is a precious gift; the water should
be harvested instead of being engineered
away into the desert.
CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM THINKING
A close examination of the water cycle
of many arid regions shows that there
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Landscapes - Fall 2015
TO BEGIN WITH
WRITERS
AAPQ: 50 ANS DE CREATION
UPFRONT
EXCELLENCE 2015
NATIONAL HONOUR
NATIONAL MERIT
THE REGIONALS
ADJUDICATION
LACF-PRESENTS
GUELPH’S EVOLUTION
BEE HABITAT
LACF FUNDED RESEARCH: A CRITIQUE
THE LAST WORD
Landscapes - Fall 2015
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