Introduction

The mainstream perception of urban infrastructure as merely utilitarian has denied it of a larger role in the process of designing our built environment. The sociotechnical integration (or the lack of it ) with aspects of water and urban design has been noted by various urban scholars (Margolis, 2015). In a similar vein, Matthew Gandy, speaking of modern cities, says that the hydrological structure has never closely corresponded with a rationalized conception of urban space. In this pilot thesis, I argue that infrastructures like water supply and storage are not simply functional constructs, but active agents in the de¬sign of the built urban environment and can be instrumental in creating ecological and social resilience. They lie at the intersection of geography, ecology, architecture and place, as is manifest in various historic water infrastructures of ancient civilizations like the Qantas of Iran, the Amunas and Puoiquis of Peru, or the Stepwells of the region in question, semi-arid India (“ICOMOS - Cultural Heritages of Water,” n.d.).

The current paradigm of ‘Water Supply’ that informs planning, construction and management of centralized infrastructures in Ahmedabad, involves extraction of large quantities of water and extensive piped networks. These energy intensive systems have proven to be unsuitable in terms of maintenance and expansion with sustainability issues arising due to rapidly increasing demands (Wong and Brown 2009) (Morrison, 2010) (Matzger and Moench, 1994). Moreover, they have also contributed to a greater disparity in water access within cities (Anand, 2017).

My research aims to understand the unsustainability and inequality attached with the current water-infrastructural paradigm in Ahmedabad. It questions the construction ideals of extended infrastructural networks, large dams and river-front projects that are inspired by unlimited water supply, and argues for a communitybased water infrastructure. Simultaneously, the associated design project seeks to find an alternative architectural identity through a deeper understanding of traditional water structures. It is argued that the socio-technical integration of these structures in the current paradigm of water infrastructure can become foundational to restoring community agency and moving towards a sustainable future.

Figure 7. Women fetching water in a stepped Kund, and stepwell