Recharge +
Hydric System Protection Proposal:
Master Plan:
Site 01; Midlands
Site 02; Highlands.
Recharge +
Harvard Graduate School of Design
Department of Landscape Architecture
Fall 2022
Collaboration:
Arty Vartanyan
Advised by:
Lorena Bello
Economic and water autonomy plan for the Apan agroindustrial valley, paired with nature-based restoration strategies for water recharge in the Cuatlaco River Basin.
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Recharge + is a project where we look at the water cycle at different scales and the implications that industrial activity on the territory of the Apan Basin has on it; particularly in the Cuatlaco River Basin. This cycle is one small part of the larger whole of smaller parts. The actions and implications in each scale compound and influence the larger scale order.
The Cuatlaco River Basin transect was identified and analyzed through its unique ecosystems related to altitude. The way water behaves depends on the topography and human-to-ecosystem interactions. The project builds on the existing lowlands, Tecocomulco Lagoon RAMSAR Protection Site Project, presented in Aqua Incognita I in 2021 and therefore focuses on the midlands and highlands of the Cuatlaco River. The project seeks to extend the Protection of the lagoon to the rest of the system, therefore protecting the river basin and the forest that allows the system to continue to exist.
Additionally, Recharge + looks at strategies that point towards economic and water autonomy for locals in contrast to today’s forces that shape the environment, which is dependent on the global beer industry and industrial extraction. The project thus proposes two main operations: first, the protection of the river through the reforestation of the existing river buffer regulated by Conagua, through addition to a path along its course. Second, an additional land use buffer that incentivizes alternatives to monoculture economies on existing agricultural plots trough the introduction of a forestry economy that promotes reforestation and high-altitude crop polyculture. The Project looks at a timed intervention with the partnership of local ejidos: Cuatlaco and Rancho Nuevo, each corresponding to one of the altitudes.
**********
Recharge + is a project where we look at the water cycle at different scales and the implications that industrial activity on the territory of the Apan Basin has on it; particularly in the Cuatlaco River Basin. This cycle is one small part of the larger whole of smaller parts. The actions and implications in each scale compound and influence the larger scale order.
The Cuatlaco River Basin transect was identified and analyzed through its unique ecosystems related to altitude. The way water behaves depends on the topography and human-to-ecosystem interactions. The project builds on the existing lowlands, Tecocomulco Lagoon RAMSAR Protection Site Project, presented in Aqua Incognita I in 2021 and therefore focuses on the midlands and highlands of the Cuatlaco River. The project seeks to extend the Protection of the lagoon to the rest of the system, therefore protecting the river basin and the forest that allows the system to continue to exist.
Additionally, Recharge + looks at strategies that point towards economic and water autonomy for locals in contrast to today’s forces that shape the environment, which is dependent on the global beer industry and industrial extraction. The project thus proposes two main operations: first, the protection of the river through the reforestation of the existing river buffer regulated by Conagua, through addition to a path along its course. Second, an additional land use buffer that incentivizes alternatives to monoculture economies on existing agricultural plots trough the introduction of a forestry economy that promotes reforestation and high-altitude crop polyculture. The Project looks at a timed intervention with the partnership of local ejidos: Cuatlaco and Rancho Nuevo, each corresponding to one of the altitudes.