In the heart of the Pearl River Delta, the city of Guangzhou is fast-growing and prone to flooding. In history, people constructed canals based on natural waterways to deal with water problems. The canal system not only served as an important infrastructure but was also as the backbone of urban life. But with the development of the road network in recent decades, the urban canals in the historical inner city have been neglected and are disappearing, losing their identity, and becoming the forgotten side of the city. What can be learned from the historical situation to reactivate the urban canals as carriers of socially and ecologically inclusive urban space? This chapter aims to identify design principles for (historical) urban canal design and examine their potential through design exploration, with Donghao Chong as a typical example. The results showcase how, through the meaningful application of historical knowledge, urban canals can become a water landscape infrastructure that effectively integrates public space by combining design, heritage, water management, and ecology.@en

In the heart of the Pearl River Delta, the city of Guangzhou is fast-growing and prone to flooding. In history, people constructed canals based on natural waterways to deal with water problems. The canal system not only served as an important infrastructure but was also as the backbone of urban life. The city was built around its canals; they were the lifeline of Guangzhou. But with the development of the road network in recent decades, the urban canals in the historical inner city have been neglected and are disappearing, losing their identity, and becoming the forgotten side of the city. Also, canal restoration projects often only address the historical canals as water infrastructure, without effectively addressing them as public spaces. They are no longer designed as socially inclusive urban spaces and so play no significant role in public life anymore. Restoration projects are not really concerned with the canals or their surrounding urban tissue as a system, neither do they connect the lives of local people to the water. Therefore, the newly designed public spaces in these projects often function poorly, if at all. What can be learned from the historical situation to re-activate the urban canals as carriers of socially and ecologically inclusive urban space?@en

This graduation studio explores the potential of a landscape-based regional design approach to contribute to more resilient coastal landscapes around the globe. Such an approach addresses the interaction between the natural and urban landscape throughout the scales of space and time. It takes the landscape as the basis for sustainable urban development and employs research through design as a strategy to explore the possibilities of landscape architecture principles for water-sensitive design, nature-based solutions, heritage protection, and socio-ecological inclusive development. This landscape approach is transdisciplinary in nature and exploits the power of design to address the complex challenges of our times while connecting long-term strategies and short-term interventions. The projects presented here showcase the wide range of possibilities of the landscape-approach in nature conservation, reduce flood risks, promote sustainable urban transformation and achieve a symbiosis between nature and culture.@en

The last 60 years has seen unprecedented groundwater extraction and overdraft as well as development of new technologies for water treatment that together drive the advance in intentional groundwater replenishment known as managed aquifer recharge (MAR). This paper is the first known attempt to quantify the volume of MAR at global scale, and to illustrate the advancement of all the major types of MAR and relate these to research and regulatory advancements. Faced with changing climate and rising intensity of climate extremes, MAR is an increasingly important water management strategy, alongside demand management, to maintain, enhance and secure stressed groundwater systems and to protect and improve water quality. During this time, scientific research—on hydraulic design of facilities, tracer studies, managing clogging, recovery efficiency and water quality changes in aquifers—has underpinned practical improvements in MAR and has had broader benefits in hydrogeology. Recharge wells have greatly accelerated recharge, particularly in urban areas and for mine water management. In recent years, research into governance, operating practices, reliability, economics, risk assessment and public acceptance of MAR has been undertaken. Since the 1960s, implementation of MAR has accelerated at a rate of 5%/year, but is not keeping pace with increasing groundwater extraction. Currently, MAR has reached an estimated 10 km3/year, ~2.4% of groundwater extraction in countries reporting MAR (or ~1.0% of global groundwater extraction). MAR is likely to exceed 10% of global extraction, based on experience where MAR is more advanced, to sustain quantity, reliability and quality of water supplies.@en