Ref ID:	25654
Ref Type:	Book Section in a Series
Authors:	Taillard, Christian
Title:	Devenir de l'ancien système hydraulique de Vientiane: la place du patrimoine technique et des héritages paysagers dans le développement urbain
Date:	2008
Source:	Recherches nouvelles sur le Laos
Place of Publication:	Paris
Publisher:	École française d'Extrême-Orient
Edition:	18
Language:	French
Notes:	Alternate title: New research on Laos
Abstract:	This contribution describes the old water system of Vientiane, unique in the Indochina Peninsula, which was based on the use of the different levels and flows of the Mekong and the Nam Ngum, due to their contrasting hydrographic regimes. The paper then shows how losing the memory of this hydraulic system during the post-colonial period as well as neglecting local traditional knowledge of the environment, lead to the failure of many urban projects. There follows an analysis of the landscape and identity dimensions of this hydraulic heritage, in relation to the current urban perimeter as well as the wetlands that surround the old city centre. This technical and environmental heritage, long protected despite political uncertainties over the last two centuries, has become truly at stake as the rhythm of urbanisation accelerates and as modernisation is threatening to remove all traces of the natural environment from the urban landscape.
Date Created:	9/29/2008
Editors:	Goudineau, Yves Lorrillard, Michel
Volume:	18
Page Start:	339
Page End:	359
Series Title:	Études thématiques