WATER TRACES AND DEVELOPMENT OF FARM LANDSCAPE. WATERSHEDS AS URBAN DESIGN FACTORS

Abstract

This article reveals the role of -natural and artificial- water traces in the development of farm landscapes. These water traces -rivers, channels and irrigation ditches- define formal categories and shape a network of hydraulic facilities and uses related to farming. Hence, they become tools suitable for the development of a way of looking at farming landscapes. Like a memory of the ground, these traces bring us closer to the changes in the space structure of scales that make up the territory; and to insights about what changes and what remains in a farm landscape based on the development of productive activities and supplementary occupations. For this purpose, some formal expressions triggered by these occupations in rural areas are reviewed, focusing on areas where there is a convergence of water traces, hydraulic devices and residential activities located in the Province of Rancagua, Chile.