In our current system, underground stormwater infrastructure relies on heavy capital investment and specialized construction teams. To reclaim landscapes from engineering technocrats, an easy to learn design language understood and applied among common people is necessary.
Maintenance
In addition to the dangerous working conditions during installation, underground pipes require precise calculations, muscular labor and heavy machinery. For most, knowing how these systems work is not necesssary or relevant to their daily life. Moreover, most don’t know what is the state or health of underground infrastructure systems that they depend on everyday. To fix these system, construction crews will have to feed CCTV robots deep beneath the surface to investigate the condition of pipes. The monotonous hours controlling robot cameras through broken and blocked pipes is not cheap. Moreover, reviewing and conveying that information can often lead to miscommunication between firms, contractors and municipalities due to the similarities from pipe to pipe. In contrast, open inrfastructure provides opportunities for the public to enjoy, monitor and contribute to stormwater management. However, with our current capitalist system, promoting open infrastructure requires new forms of governance and community which challenges individualistic norms.
Centering tradition
Moving beyond basic concepts of open infrastructure (swales, rain gardens, etc), designing open infrastructure from utilities to amenities can create programming opportunities for communities. However, to break down the division between infrastructure and people, centering ritual and tradition around water may provide a way forward. As seen in the terraces in Battir and Bali, indigenous peoples have synchronized water sharing processes with their religions. Defining a community not in secular or material terms can shape water usage in ways that encourage participation and collaboration.
Particularities
Placing people at odds with their built environment, underground technologies further disconnects people from natural processes that were once intuitive and familiar. Disregarding the hydrological particularities of the environment, the language of closed systems is dry and technical. Forming traditions and culture around water cannot happen spontaneously and needs placemaking relevance. For example, celestial patterns are visible and accessible to everyone. Building open infrastructure which operates during similar time periods can create opportunities for communities to congregate around similar water events.
