Based on a comparative analysis of two case studies, this
book presents a comprehensive and systematic examination of
urban water management in the light of environmental theory.
A complex model structure of the subject matter portrays it
as a system of interlocking subsystems covering the
management structure, the inventory and the urban
hydrological conditions. The system itself is also viewed
within its wider urban ecological context of interaction
between urban and industrial development, land use and the
physical environment. This analytical grid also provides the
framework for the evaluation of water management reforms,
remedial strategies, programs and plans.
By seizing upon a crucial problem setting for arid land
research, the author most poignantly reveals the complex
role of water management within the context of environmental
crisis. The choice of urban regions - ]r}mqi, Xinjiang, and
Phoenix, Arizona - within systems as culturally and
politically different as the United States and the PR of
China is apt to give an up-to-date display of the main
issues of the topic within a global perspective. The evident
socioeconomic contrast between the two systems projects a
differentiated notion of the Third World's predicament in
this respect, and leads the reader on to explore the
opportunities - but also the definite limitations -involved
in the transfer of high-standardWestern know-how.