Water Plus [creating an adaptive urban edge]

Constant dependence on the ground water, coupled with diminishing recharge due to growing pervious surfaces around the water bodies, makes the cities more vulnerable to climate changes. Urban rivers go through the vicious cycle of negligence, degradation, and slowly become an eyesore. There has never been a more urgent need to restore these damaged river ecosystems than now. The studio Water Plus advocates design proposals along a growing urban water edge that creates ecological designs to nurture social interactions. The studio invites students to conceive and generate innovative public landscapes that reimagines an urban water edge from the lens of ecology. If social spaces and ecology can go hand in hand, we can create great civic spaces for the next century. With the imminent environmental crisis, people have started to believe in the value of a balanced environment. What is good for other organisms is also good for people. In fact, people need to be made aware of the value of natural systems so that they can be the active stewards of the environment. To create such a transformational environment, landscape architects must prove the value of their solutions as performance landscapes that can be tested across time and adverse scenarios.