Hydro-urbanism: reconfiguring the urban water-cycle inthe lower Lea river basin, London

This thesis explores how water infrastructures can be reconfigured in the urban environment to theadvantage of human society in the future. It found actor-network theory co-evolutionary pathwaysbetween current material configurations and social practices for these reconfigurations. Materialconfigurations include infrastructures, urban form, fixtures, fittings, and water types. Socialpractices, include existing behaviours, imagined behaviours, desires, and aspirations.This is an important question to answer because there are many places around the world, both indeveloped and developing countries that currently face inadequate water supplies to serve the needsof their ever growing populations, or conversely flooding due to extreme precipitation or sea levelrise. The lower Lea river basin in London is one such area. The large scale engineering solutions ofpipes and pumps to control water that have been the typical solution are reaching their limitstherefore it is imperative to find other means to manage water in urban environments.This research used an actor-network theory co-evolution framework to understand the existingurban water-cycle, and to find areas of transformation in order to develop actor-network coevolutionarypathways for change. Interviews, group discussions and water diaries were used toinvestigate the existing conditions and anticipated future changes of both private citizens and waterprofessionals. An iterative process of design synthesis and discussions were repeated twice to testand define the actor-network theory co-evolutionary pathways.This research stretches actor-network theory from its ethnographic beginnings into the realm of thefuture through design propositions. It found that there were two strongly favoured actor-networktheory co-evolutionary pathways for reconfiguring the urban water-cycle in the lower Lea riverbasin. These were increasing freshwater productivity and transforming waste to resource. Thesecreate new water-cycle assemblages that offer advantages to people who face many, yet uncertain,types of water stress in the future.