Water-Based Settlement and the Loss of Community Water Resilience

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Issue Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022)
Published Jul 30, 2022
Section Articles
Article downloads 455
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7454/in.v5i2.210
Submitted : Feb 18, 2022 | Accepted : Jun 28, 2022
Patiphol Yodsurang
Kasetsart University, Thailand
patiphol.y@ku.th
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9017-5370
Yasufumi Uekita
University of Tsukuba, Japan
uekita@heritage.tsukuba.ac.jp
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7075-5685
Ikuro Shimizu
Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan
ikuro-s@shibaura-it.ac.jp

Abstract

After the first dam was built in the Chao Phraya River during the 1950s, several water-controlled structures and megaprojects were built throughout the basin. For the first 30 years, water levels were stable, and the dams largely provided flood prevention. However, in recent years, global warming and climate change have been driving the frequency and intensity of extreme events. Local people have gradually lost their resilience against living with water during the years of a stable flood and flow system. This caused the interiority of the amphibious culture to drown into an oblivion state in the water-based settlement. The investigation was conducted in two villages with identical environmental conditions and similar cultural livelihoods in the floodplain of Ayutthaya Province against seasonal water intrusion. The physical characteristics of housing and cultural landscape of the waterfront villages were analysed via floor plans and cross-sectional study to explain the physical changes through time. The primary investigation revealed that the loss of the underneath space is an important indicator of housing changes resulting from the water conditions becoming more stable. Individuals have started to forget how to live with water. At the same time, the characteristics of the stilt house with an underneath space indicated that the communities continue to practice resilience to co-exist with the flood phenomenon.

Keywords: cultural landscape, waterfront, settlement history, resilient community, climate change effect

Article Details

How to Cite
Yodsurang, P., Uekita, Y., & Shimizu, I. (2022). Water-Based Settlement and the Loss of Community Water Resilience. Interiority, 5(2), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.7454/in.v5i2.210
Author Biographies

Patiphol Yodsurang, Kasetsart University, Thailand

Patiphol Yodsurang is a full-time lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture at Kasetsart University, Thailand. His research topic includes world heritage studies, cultural heritage theory and policy studies, heritage management and interpretative master plan, traditional settlement and vernacular architecture, and spatial data analysis. He holds a five-year bachelor's degree in Architecture from Chulalongkorn University, master’s degree in World Heritage Studies with Excellent Master's Thesis Award and Doctor of Philosophy in World Heritage Studies with Excellent Doctoral Thesis Award with Dean's Award for Best Doctoral Thesis from the University of Tsukuba.

Yasufumi Uekita, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Yasufumi Uekita is a professor at the Degree Program of Heritage Studies Faculty of Art and Design University of Tsukuba, Japan. He is a specialist of heritage conservation and architecture conservation. He holds a Master of Art and a PhD in Design from the University of Tsukuba. As heritage conservation specialist he researches conservation methods of heritage sites, historic buildings and traditional settlements. His research experience contributes to developing sustainable practices to conserve valuable landmark settlements with the surrounding natural environment. The recent research works are focusing on conservation traditional intangible techniques for inheriting tangible living settlements, improving disaster prevention planning of historic buildings.

Ikuro Shimizu, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan

Ikuro Shimizu is a professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Architectural Engineering, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan. He holds a PhD entitled House Space and Owner of the House: Ethnographic-Architectural Study of The House Among the Akha of Northern Thailand (2001) from Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI). He researches in cultural anthropology, structural engineering and architectural engineering. His current project is Laos: Indigenous Houses of a Lue Village in Luang Prabang, Thailand: The Houses of a Khun Village in Chiang Mai.

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