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SUMMARY:Low-density urbanism\, risk and climate instability - Prof Roland 
 Fletcher\, University of Sydney
DTSTART:20220505T110000Z
DTEND:20220505T123000Z
UID:TALK173144@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lydia Clough
DESCRIPTION:Angkor\, the capital of the Khmer Empire between the 9th and t
 he 14th century was a giant\, low-density\, urban complex covering about a
  thousand square kilometres – with a population of about 750\,000 within
  a region containing over 900\,000 people. The population of Angkor depend
 ed on the vast infrastructure of the urban water management network to min
 imise the risks of seasonal variation in rainfall and sustain the economy 
 of the city. By the 13th century parts of the urban network were complex a
 nd over 500 years old. The former tropical forest of the region had been r
 emoved and replaced by a landscape of rice fields with economically useful
  trees and shrubs around the houses.\n\nIn the 13th century the change fro
 m the Medieval Warm Phase to the Little Ice Age began\, causing severe cli
 matic instability for more than a century.  Mega-monsoons were intersperse
 d with severe droughts. The mega-monsoons tore out the main canal across A
 ngkor and caused serious erosion in centre of the city\, disrupting the wa
 ter management network. The urban population’s protection against drough
 t was broken and the economic demands of the city could not be sustained. 
 Between the 14th and the 16th century Angkor was largely abandoned and the
  urban heartland of the Khmer Empire reverted to forest and villages. The 
 impact of severe climate change on the combination of low-density urbanism
 \, extensive landscape clearance and dependence on massive infrastructure 
 has some potential significance for industrial urbanism in the 21st centur
 y.\nRegister: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAvf-CppzwtEtN-C
 41uxEGPPiIv5ro_cA9t
LOCATION:Zoom
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