preface
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Leonardo da Vinci described water as “the driving force of all nature,” yet today, the world is facing a water crisis. If we reflect on the history of development interventions, we can see that people of various cultures have responded to similar hydrological situations by creating structures usingwhat they knew and what they had. Local solutions were efficient, and some continue to be efficient today, because people considered the limits imposed by climate and context, included members of their communities directly in water governance and passed on appropriate intangible social prac-...
editorial
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Water awareness is inextricably linked to climate change awareness. In 1987, renowned climate scientist William W. Kellogg wrote an article about “the evolution of awareness” of humankind’s impact on the climate. He noted that over 150 years separated the first observations of this im- pact to the first explicit mention of the greenhouse effect in 1957 (Kellogg 1987). Over 35 years after Kellogg’s article, “awareness” is no longer the greatest challenge: it is “action.” The Water Conference of 1977 in Mar del Plata, Argentina, which aimed at establishing an international water resource...
challenges, concepts and new approaches
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Working toward sustainable development requires careful balancing of the past, present and future. Water is a crucial element of the SDGs, because each intervention in the water system will have either a positive or negative impact on other parts of the system and on other goals. Water connects: literally and figuratively. Working toward sustainable water (and) heritage management is urgent and can greatly contribute to other important goals. In designing a solution for the future, it is necessary to consider not only technical, but also behavioral and cultural perspectives in a...
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Over the last several years, a variety of academic and professional partners have started to explore the relationship between water and heritage. A key challenge for communication and collaborative action in this important and growing field is a lack of shared terminologies, concepts and priorities. As water managers around the world look for inspiration from the past, heritage professionals focus on the protection of water-related sites and practices, historians explore continuities and spatial planners anticipate future needs. As a result, the future-oriented field of water management,...
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In 2020 UN Water, the entity coordinating the United Nations’ work on water and sanitation, identified capacity development as one of the five accelerators required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal on Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6). In today’s practical application, capacity development is mostly financed to deliver a product specified in advance, not to arrange a longer time frame and process to structurally learn from various activities and discover sustainable development paths (Alaerts and Zevenbergen 2022). The inclusion of traditional knowledge and cultural heritage...
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In recent decades, a technologically driven water management paradigm has fostered a model of “domination over nature” with an unsustainable footprint. This paradigm has also alienated people and communities from their environment and from historical practices and forms of knowledge that involve managing and engaging with water directly. There is a need for a paradigm shift in managing water in a way that reconnects individuals to aquatic environments and water-related heritage and reflects the extraordinary transformation in our understanding of the need for biological diversity to...
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Rivers are ecosystems indispensable for the survival of both humans and non-human species. Yet humans often disregard their importance and modify the existing socio-natural equilibrium of rivers in the pursuit of economic and political agendas. With a focus on new water justice movements, this article advocates a perspective that recognizes rivers as hydrosocial territories, actively and continuously co-created, co-inhabited, and transformed by a multiplicity of human and other-thanhuman beings. Such a perspective opens a path to a multispecies justice framework that involves rethinking...
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An unbelievably small portion of the water available on planet Earth, just 0.00015 per cent of it, runs in rivers (Garcia-Moreno et al. 2014). And yet, this is the most important water source, not only for humans, but also for animals, plants and entire ecosystems on all continents. The natural flow regime of rivers, including periods of floods and low flows, has set the pace for cultural activities and biological evolution since the earliest days. But, in assuming that water is a resource that can be...
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Water and culture have been closely linked to human beings since ancient times. These connections were often lost in the process of industrialization. New water culture policies and initiatives reflect new attempts at collaborative transformation. They provide a way to transcend the current crisis- management discourse and related narrow policy answers offered by policy makers in Europe. The EU foresight scenarios describe potential future developments. They can serve as a starting point for cross-sectoral cooperation and policy making that can help solve the current and upcoming...
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Our ocean heritage (natural and cultural) is at risk from destructive human activities, including bottom trawling, deep seabed mining (DSM), and potentially polluting wrecks (PPWs). The stories of our societies and our ancestors are often connected with the ocean and captured on the seafloor as artifacts, shipwrecks and the remains of those lost or buried at sea. Previously, marine global heritage protection efforts have been largely focused on natural heritage. However, Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) is also ocean heritage and must be considered the same way. We must shine a light...
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The Sustainable Development Goals Working Group (SDGWG) of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) advocates for heritage by publishing reports, attending conferences and engaging in networking. The SDGWG is particularly interested in how water, heritage and sustainable development intersect. Various aspects of this intersection are demonstrated by three case studies of underwater cultural heritage: a study of submarine cables and pipelines, the traditional floating garden system of chinampas in Mexico City, and the indigenous water tanks of kulams and gender-associated...
methodologies and case studies
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This interview highlights the extensive research project African Water Cities by architectural studio NLÉ, which explores intersections of rapid urbanization and climate change in the African context. NLÉ proposes new strategies for addressing water, culture and heritage management in Africa as Sub-Saharan Africa experiences the second-fastest rates of urbanization and population growth in the world. The discussion also addresses whether and how these strategies fit within the scope of the UN SDGs.
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Two resolutions of UNESCO-IHP (2018 and 2021) have highlighted the importance of fostering water sustainability education through networked water museums and developing a world inventory (WIN) of these institutions. To achieve this goal, the Global Network of Water Museums has developed a methodology to initiate a worldwide census of water museums, interpretation centers and water- related heritage values. The benefits of adopting a common methodology are clear. By using a transnational toolkit it will be possible to highlight the large variety of valuable aquatic heritages and the...
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Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Territories in the Dutch Caribbean face unique water challenges related to climate change. With fragile ecosystems and surrounded by rising sea levels and limited natural resources, island communities are increasingly faced with the reality of life withextreme drought and floods. While Caribbean SIDS in general have limited freshwater resources and limited water-retaining capacity due to natural characteristics, it is undeniable that unsustainable actions, practices and attitudes under colonial rule, such as deforestation and “property-thinking,”...
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As one of the most famous delta cities in the world, Amsterdam exemplifies how decisions and narratives from the past can be the driving force for present-day actions and more effective design principles for future city planning. Water management in Amsterdam has often been, and frequently still is, reactive in response to water hazards, flooding, droughts, pollution and disease. While contemporary pressures urge water managers to redesign the living environment in harmony with changing water cycles, the centuries-long history of water awareness, cumulative knowledge and long-term...
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This article addresses how ideology affects local water governance, focusing on a groundwater basin in central Iran. It offers a case study of a symbiotic relationship between upstream and downstream communities, allowing a sustainable form of water governance. The cooler weather, better pastures and greater amount of precipitation of the basin upstream drew nomadic communities, whose economy was not dependent on irrigation. Downstream, fertile soil and warm weather favored agriculture with a high demand for water that was supplied by the groundwater transferred from the basin upstream....
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The ancient Valens Aqueduct in the metropolis of Istanbul, Türkiye, has the potential to raise public awareness of historical water management as well as of current and future water supply challenges. This monument stands as a highly visible remnant of what was once the longest water supply line of the Roman world. Although recognized and preserved as a heritage object testifying to its multi- layered history, it has lost its original function and its relationship to water management. We present a program that aims to develop solutions for revitalizing its tangible and intangible values...
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Once North America’s longest constructed transportation system, the Erie Canalway has been in continuous operation for nearly 200 years (ASCE 2022; Goodstadt et al. 2020). The Canalway transformed New York City into the nation’s chief port and helped New York State (NYS) become a commercial, industrial and financial center (Library of Congress, n.d.; Hay 2014). Beyond moving people and goods, the Canalway carried ideas, innovations and social movements; it connected Europe, the US Eastern seaboard and the...
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Transforming port infrastructure to meet the increasing demands of urbanization and modernization has been a contentious topic for decades, with push and pull between preserving historic structures and addressing sustainability, economic feasibility and tourism (Babalis 2018). This article takes an interdisciplinary view of these debates by exploring how restoring port infrastructure heritage can align key pillars of sustainable development: a strong local economy, water and sanitation, and social and cultural identity. An ongoing restoration project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, serves as a...
