Heritage Foundation

Abstract Ahmedabad, a city that is layered with centuries of traditional knowledge systems, showcases a unique adaptation to socio-environmental and economic challenges. One such system is the Tanka, a traditional , low-tech underground rainwater harvesting structure that is typically lined with lime and embedded beneath domestic courtyards in the historic city. These structures, maintained through ritualistic cleaning and seasonal preparation, reflect a sustainable legacy of self-reliant water management. In this paper the potential of reviving Tanka as a decentralised water infrastructure for climate-resilient urban management is investigated. In this study, climate resilience refers to a city’s ability to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and recover from climate-driven extremes particularly water scarcity, heatwaves, and heavy rainfall. Tanka systems contribute to resilience by enabling decentralised water storage, reducing pressure on centralised infrastructure, enhancing microclimate regulation, and serving as emergency reserves. Focusing on the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ahmedabad, where nearly 10,000 Tanka are believed to exist, the study examines resident’s perceptions and institutional challenges in integrating privately owned Tanka for broader public utility. Drawing from qualitative methodologies, the research employs a triangulated approach: in-depth interviews with 25 residents of historic houses, a critical review of urban water governance and municipal policy documents, and focused group discussions (FGDs) involving both community members and domain experts. The findings highlight a promising 90% willingness among residents to reintegrate Tanka water into the urban system. However, the current top-down governance framework dominated by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) lacks mechanisms for incentivising citizen participation and heritage-based water reuse. This study advocates for a co-governance model that combines state capacity with citizen agency to address urban water stress while reinforcing heritage conservation. Furthermore, it proposes a scalable planning framework rooted in traditional practices, adaptable to other Indian cities and new settlements. Repositioning Tanka within a broader discourse of sustainable development, the paper suggests that reviving such vernacular systems offers a low-carbon, culturally embedded solution for managing urban resilience in the Anthropocene.

The lifestyle of Vibrio cholerae is primarily environmental, yet a chance encounter with a human host can lead to cholera, a potentially lethal form of diarrhea. Strains belonging to O1 and O139 serogroups have pandemic potential, but the contribution of non-O1/non-O139 serovars towards the genesis of cholera remains unclear. Endemic V. cholerae lineages were investigated given several historical accounts describing cholera epidemics and sporadic, contemporary cholera-like outbreaks along the lower Rio Grande Delta (LRGD). Seven isolates were recovered from an urban segment of the Rio Grande and six from a rural segment where the river empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Urban isolates all encode ß-lactamase, and with one exception are phylogenetically closely related, rough (do not express O-antigen), harbor identical plasmids, exhibit a disabled Type VI Secretion System (T6SS), and decreased protease activity. In contrast, rural strains belong to distinct serogroups, are sensitive to ß-lactams, express proteases, and kill Escherichia coli in T6SS competition assays. Genome-scale phylogenetics and multilocus sequence typing indicate that urban and rural isolates belong to distinct and novel phylogroups. These results suggest that an urban niche heavily impacted by anthropogenic pressures and a downstream protected rural niche are inhabited by distinct V. cholerae phylotypes.

Taking up Virginia Woolf’s paradigmatic motto “we think back through our mothers if we are women” (Woolf 2015, 57), and bringing Woolf’s thinking into dialogue with contemporary writers, critics, and thinkers, this essay examines the various modes of transmission and reception the motto encapsulates and connects with. Following Erica Delsandro’s article entitled “No More Missed Connections” (2019) and her invitation to read “both forward and backward through feminist history and women’s texts” (90) and to “lean into a feminist historicity in which networks trump icons, in which history flows backward as well as forward, and in which we think through our daughters as much as we do our mothers” (91-92), I explore the constellation-like and paradoxically non-linear modalities of non-patrilineal and feminist transmission that have been conceived in dialogue with and/or through Woolf’s paradigm of “thinking back through our mothers.” Delving into various rethinkings of the mother-daughter dyad, both in its biological, symbolic, and metaphorical senses, I unravel a non-fixed and plural mother-daughter matrix by addressing the following literary and feminist issues: debunking the pro/creation myth, kaleidoscoping and pluralising the mother, unsilencing long lost (fore)mothers, subjectifying (inter)textuality and reclaiming feminine influence, queering matrilineal transmission and reception.

The first flush (FF) phenomenon is commonly associated with a relevant load of pollutants, raising concerns about water quality and environmental management in agro-urban areas. An FF event can potentially transport contaminated water into a receiving water body by activating combined sewer overflow (CSO) systems present in the drainage urban network. Therefore, accurately characterizing FF events is crucial for the effective management of sewer systems and for limiting environmental degradation. Given the ongoing controversy in the literature regarding the delineation of FF event occurrences, there is an unavoidable necessity for further investigations, especially experimental-based ones. This study presents the outcomes of an almost two-year field campaign focused on assessing the water quantity and quality of two combined sewer systems in Northern Italy. For this purpose, various hydro-meteorological variables, including precipitation, flow rate, temperature, and solar radiation, in addition to water quality analytics, were measured continuously to capture stormwater events. Throughout the monitoring period, sixteen stormwater events were identified and analyzed using five indices usually adopted in the literature to identify FF occurrences. The results indicate that there is a strong positive correlation between the mass first flush ratios calculated for nutrients and three factors, including maximum rainfall intensity, maximum flow rate, and antecedent dry weather period. Furthermore, rainfall duration was found to possess a strong negative correlation with the mass first flush ratios calculated for nutrients. However, for the same rainfall event, the occurrence of FF has never been unanimously confirmed by the indices examined in this study. Moreover, different macro-groups of pollutants can behave differently. Thus, it becomes apparent that relying solely on a priori analyses, without the support of data from experimental monitoring campaigns, poses a risk when designing actions for the mitigation of FF occurrences.

The capabilities approach is useful for evaluating progress toward the just city. We report how a Participatory Action Research consortium studying neighborhood change and well-being designed a survey instrument measuring respondents’ ability to fulfill a set of common life priorities. We present data on priority endorsement and fulfillment, and conduct a factor analysis to explore the underlying structure of the instrument. We argue that the instrument operationalizes the capabilities approach and serves as a model for using participatory methods to evaluate the impact of planning interventions on social justice and health equity.

Abstract The passive dissolution of anthropogenically produced CO2into the ocean system is reducing ocean pH and changing a suite of chemical equilibria, with negative consequences for some marine organisms, in particular those that bear calcium carbonate shells. Although our monitoring of these chemical changes has improved, we have not developed effective tools to translate observations, which are typically of the pH and carbonate saturation state, into ecologically relevant predictions of biological risks. One potential solution is to develop bioindicators: biological variables with a clear relationship to environmental risk factors that can be used for assessment and management. Thecosomatous pteropods, a group of pelagic shelled marine gastropods, whose biological responses to CO2have been suggested as potential bioindicators of OA owing to their sensitivity to acidification in both laboratory and the natural environment. Using five CO2exposure experiments, occurring across 4 seasons and running for up to 15 days, we describe a consistent relationship between saturation state, shell transparency, and duration of exposure, as well as identify a suite of genes that could be used for biological monitoring. We clarify variations in thecosome responses due to seasonality, resolving prior uncertainties and demonstrating the range of their phenotypic plasticity. These biomarkers of acidification stress can be implemented into ecosystem models and monitoring programs in regions where pteropods are found, while the approach will serve as an example for other regions on how to bridge the gap between point-based chemical monitoring and biologically relevant assessments of ecosystem health.Summary StatementDespite seasonal variability, pteropods exposed to acidification over multiple seasons reveal consistent patterns in gene expression and shell condition that can be used as bioindicators of ocean acidification stress.