In the class we watched a video in which a system for urban development was describe in China. What I found most intriguing about the video was the discussion of the very first step in the planning, which was to map out the hydrology of the landscape where the city was to be built and protect this vital resource. The main way it seemed that the hydrology system was protected was to just leave it alone by doing things like making parks that surround them.
This made me think mostly about the mismanaged hydrology of Hawaii, especially on Oahu, where it seems that every stream has been channeled by concrete walls and forced to collide with itself into large culverts to dump into the ocean. This seems to me completely contradictory to what water is. Fresh water is necessary to our survival, as well as the existence of life EVERYWHERE, which is why water is the first thing we look for in our search for life elsewhere in the universe. It seems like in the development of cities we treat water as an obstacle; as trash which must be emptied from the area (and in fact what we use to carry our waste away). We turn perfectly good drinking water into waste when it should be conserved. When its not treated as waste, its gathered up and used for aesthetic purposes, such as making sure the grass is green in all the "necessary" places, such as golf courses. The talk of hydrology reminded me of the tragic story of Waikiki and its development, in which the wetland agriculture behind Waikiki was politically manipulated out of existence.
I'm glad that hydrology and the flooding of rivers and streams is being seen once again as something natural, beneficial, and necessary for our existence.
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