Rejuvenation and Restoration of Urban Water Ecologies- Water Ecologies & Cities Day 1

“Un-Damning” Urban Water Flows!

Finding a place for water ecologies in our city.

The natural flows of water in our cities have been victim to the unplanned urban explosion. Our inability to accommodate rivers, water bodies and other ecological balances within our urban growth patterns has resulted in the increasing patterns of floods and droughts. This seems to be a conundrum considering historically most cities were founded on the basis of their water resource availability for life, livelihoods and connectivity.

In great many instances the water bodies which once provided sustenance, are getting filled over, being ‘trained’ to become sewage or stormwater channels and/ or simply laid waste with day to day pollution abuse. An approach that clogs the timeless flow and efficiency of the land and water cycle relationships. Yet we blame monsoons, climate change, government and every other even for decisions at our household level.

How do we address this disconnect and misplaced approaches and replan our cities with a place of water flows that benefits our own future survival. An inclusive transformation that aligns society, politics and technical know-how with the ecological imperative

There have been pulls and pushes in recent times to renegotiate their place in the urban system with waterfront development, beautification projects, flood mitigation and other packages. Yet, these actions have not been able to emulate and strengthen the connect which the city once had with the rivers. Are these approaches of transformation inclusive? Are the voices of All the stakeholders, from the humble bee to a developer working along the banks of these water edges being heard? Is there a way of capturing these voices and making them a part of our decision making?

The proposed sessions curated by the Water Environs team aims to bring together these varied voices and different propellers in different cities who believe in a holistic and inclusive approach and are aiming to activate this change.

These two INHAF webinars are envisioned as a two-part series that starts by laying out the problems of urban evolution and case studies from across the country of actions to counteract these disruptions to natural water flows.