"International Conference on Water and Urban Development Paradigms: Towards an integration of engineering, design and management approaches", the international conference intends to bridge the gap between the disciplines of water management, ecology and the approaches of engineering, urban design and spatial planning. Sessions will develop a series of themes, discussing the historical relationship between water systems and human settlements, and related management problems regarding urban floods, water use and water sanitation. In each session, presentations are invited on problem definition, technical and design-based solutions, but also on boundary conditions of exogenous, political or economical nature. It is hoped that this interdisciplinary information exchange and communication will lead to discussion and will contribute to a better integration of approaches currently considered in the separate disciplines of water management, water engineering, spatial urban planning and design and aquatic ecology. Also aspects of meteorological, demographic, political, economical, and educational and life-style related nature will be considered in the analysis of solutions to current and emerging urban water problems. This on the longer term might lead to new paradigms in managing water in the urban environment. Themes
I. Urbanity and Hydrology
This session will investigate water systems and their relationship to urban form and growth. Issues to be investigated include:
- historical relationship of natural water systems to human settlement
- the contemporary relationship of waterways to cities
- water as a structuring element of urbanity
- water and urban identity
- water, the public realm and recreation
- urban water transport
II. Mitigating Natural Disasters (flood, tsunami)
This session will present various alternatives to mitigating natural disasters and address the conflict between water and urbanity. Issues to be investigated include:
- over-reliance on urban flood protection measures
- rediscovery of landscapes hydrological dynamism
- increase in urban water calamities (waterlogging, flash flood, etc.) and meteorological extremes by climate change, etc.
- new potentials of rainwater-harvesting and retention basins
III. Urban Water Management
This session aims to concentrate on the fact that the world is witnessing a drastic increase in water demand and with it a renewed need for effective urban water management. Issues to be investigated include:
- infrastructure for the safe evacuation of effluent water innovative design of sewerage systems and water treatment plants
- maintenance and redesign of old sewerage systems, problem of groundwater infiltration and wastewater seepage
- consumption versus conservation of resources
- potential re-use of storm water run-off/irrigation water; desalinization
IV. Rethinking Water Governance
This session will address the political, economic and social reforms that are needed to make conclusive and significant progress of current and emerging water problems. Issues to be investigated include:
- innovative policies and practices in the water sector
- equity in water distribution and sanitation in a world of economic globalization
- matching water infrastructure demand and financial resources
- water management in relation to mobility, ecology, tourism, cultural inheritance
- water resources as common pool resources
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