Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
for the rapidly growing metropolis Los Angeles since the early 20th century when
William Mulholland constructed his famous Sierra Nevada Pipeline over 400 km,
opened in 1913. Nowadays Los Angeles water comes over several 1,000 km from
as far a
eld as Wyoming, the Colorado river, the San Francisco Bay and the Sierra
Nevada. And the almost unquenchable thirst of the still growing metropolis with its
lush and water-needy private green spaces has severe implications for regional
agriculture where large tracts have problems to secure suf
cient water for their
intensive cultivation, for instance in Owen
s Valley and several lakes have already
dried up completely.
58
In colonial cities modern (European) sanitation technology
was usually only implemented for restricted parts of the city, those quarters where
the European colonizers (and sometimes their indigenous collaborators) lived.
Whereas in the former Dutch colonial entrepot Batavia, today
'
s Indonesian capital
Jakarta, modern sanitation is still limited to the formerly European quarters where
now the Indonesian government resides,
'
,in
Singapore the British public health policy of late nineteenth and early twentieth
century, combined with a rigidly effective but authoritarian policy since indepen-
dence has achieved to signi
the former district
“
Weltevreden
”
cantly improve public health as well as the state of the
environment.
59
6.9 Networking the City
Installing comprehensive systems of water provision and sewage collection
underneath the cities was only part of a larger drive towards improving the state of
cities by implementing modern network technologies.
60
Since the state of cities
appeared critical by mid-19th century not only in terms of health but also in terms
of overly condensed traf
c and problematic residential densities, urban reformers
looked for solutions to relieve the congested city centers and to improve the quality
of urban living. They found a range of technologies which improved the lighting
and thus the perceived safety in cities, which facilitated urban transport, which
offered alternative means of industrial power besides the steam engine. Starting
with gas light in early 19th century England, a series of technical networks was set
up in cities which offered a range of services to urban dwellers, shops, industrial
companies or administrative services.
61
rst
developed by private entrepreneurs or share-holder companies, who entered con-
tractual arrangements with the cities, granting entrepreneurs and companies rights
to use urban land for their tubes and pipes. When these contracts came up for
renewal
Frequently these services were
—
frequently after periods of 25
-
30 years
—
municipal administrations
58
MacDonald (
2007
), Orsi (
2004
) and Gottlieb (
2006
).
59
Toyka-Seid (
2008
), Spreithofer and Heintel (
1997
) and Schott (
1998
).
60
Hughes (
1983
), Tarr and Dupuy (
1988
), K
ö
nig (
1990
), Melosi (
2000
) and Schott (
1999
).
61
Paquier and Williot (
2005
), Schivelbusch (
1983
) and Goodall (
2005
).
