The Oasis Effect: Reclaiming Tunis’s Indigenous Water Systems

Item

Title
The Oasis Effect: Reclaiming Tunis’s Indigenous Water Systems
Description
This thesis addresses Tunis’s pressing water management challenges primarily caused by colonialism and ongoing climate change.
It examines Tunis’s development across the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial, concentrating on how future water management can mitigate four key issues: sea level rise and flash floods, rising temperatures, social vulnerability, and habitat preservation.
Historical water management in the Medina of Tunis was effective until colonial urban development since 1881 neglected traditional drainage systems, worsening flash floods.
Inspired by traditional water management, the design proposes urban-scale interventions with canals and neighborhood-scale interventions using the “shallow water dictionary.” This collection of eight historical water management systems, implemented in urban leftovers and open spaces, aims to create vibrant areas for flood control, temperature regulation, and social interaction.
This thesis proposes “Dynamic Zoning” for adaptable space use during floods and droughts. It envisions a commons-based urbanism focused on water to achieve social and ecological harmony, proposing the “Tunis Water Management Trust”  to manage and maintain these systems.
Creator
Maghdouri Khubnama, Zeinab
Subject
Indigenous Water Systems
Oasis
The Oasis Effect
Tunis
Landscape architecture
Water resources management
Indigenous studies
Contributor
Doherty, Gareth
Date
2024-05-21T12:14:15Z
2024
2024-05-16
2024
2024-05-21T12:14:15Z
Type
Thesis or Dissertation
text
Format
application/pdf
application/pdf
Identifier
Maghdouri Khubnama, Zeinab. 2024. The Oasis Effect: Reclaiming Tunis’s Indigenous Water Systems. Master's thesis, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
31298818
https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37378626
Language
en