Water as culture
thinking beyond quality and quantity measures
The engineering reflex is to study the data and refer to the code. This work flow is excellent for meeting water quality and quantity goals of a site, but doesn’t allows account for the social or cultural programming opportunities that water has historically always provides.
Moments
Efforts to install green infrastructure have come after the fact of urbanization. The acupunctural approach is attempting to reduce stress on the existing stormwater system. This justification although beneficial turn vegetation and landscape as a metric versus a component which reinfroces and enhances community cultural. Especially since landscapes have traditionally offered refuge and respite, thinking of green infrastructure as a cultural amenity should come first. Instead of driving past bioswales or greenroofs, green spaces should provide opportunities for people to engage with the environment.
Gathering
The land dedication of public parks was created so people can escape urbanization. Rather than moving away from where we work and live, shouldn’t gathering spaces exist within the vicinity of the people we know. New developments attempt to pack gyms, studios, coffee shops around apartment complexes, but maybe there are more economic means with landscapes to provide competitive amenities that people want.
Functionality
Maybe a criticism of the notion of culture first infrastructure is that the numbers don’t exactly add up. However, rain gardens and other forms of infrastructure require some level maintenance and care. Hence, the question is not whether something economically makes sense but what is the time scale upkeep does this space require. The argument is that places which hold sentimental or cultural significance will encourage residents to function as laborers of that land rather than importing an outside labor force.
