Rethinking water: a CAAS (city as a spaceship) design approach.

Fairburn, Susan; Imhof, Barbara; Mohanty, Susmita

Abstract

Water is ubiquitous and essential, yet we struggle to understand it from a systems perspective. Water is a terrestrial closed-loop system involving individuals, communities, cities and geographies, and as such, might it serve as a metaphor for sustainable design? We identify four locations and frame their connections through water and society. This interaction is highly relevant to future dense urban environments and of interest to CAAS (City As A Spaceship) who explore reciprocities between terrestrial and extra-terrestrial architecture and design. CAAS explores these approaches to water management: 1) California State (United States); 2) New Delhi (India); 3) The International Space Station (Lower Earth Orbit); 4) Micro-Ecological Life-Support System Alternative (European Space Agency Research settings). In this paper, CAAS applies design research approaches to curate and frame reciprocities between situations and societies. Using locational case studies and city-by-city scale infographics it generates a discursive space from which to imagine conceptual shifts in sustainable design.

Citation

FAIRBURN, S., IMHOF, B. and MOHANTY, S. 2017. Rethinking water: a CAAS (city as a spaceship) design approach. The design journal [online], 20(Sup1): proceedings of the 12th European Academy of Design conference: design for next, 12-14 April 2017, Sapienza, Italy, pages S1904-S1915. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352708

• Conference Name: 12th European Academy of Design conference
• Conference Location: Sapienza, Italy
• Start Date: Apr 12, 2017
• End Date: Apr 14, 2017
• Acceptance Date: Apr 12, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Sep 6, 2017
• Publication Date: Sep 6, 2017
• Deposit Date: Sep 14, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 14, 2017
• Journal: Design journal
• Print ISSN: 1460-6925
• Electronic ISSN: 1756-3062
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Volume: 20
• Issue: Supplement 1
• Pages: S1904-S1915
• Series ISSN: 1756-3062
• ISBN: 9781138090231
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352708
• Keywords: Water; Resource management; Reciprocity; City; Spaceship
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2503