Water As Commons: Extending the Age, Memory and Continuity of Water in La VenogeHiroaki Anamizu, Khyati Andrapiya, Manson Fung, and Antonia Gerogianni

The Venoge river is a 38 km river in Canton Vaud and is a tributary of the Rhône river. The Venoge watershed covers over 238 km2, with 59 municipalities. The river originates from the foothills of the Jura and slowly flows eastward, passing through hamlets and farmlands. Halfway along its course, bounded by the Mormont Hill, the river sharply turns to the south. Throughout its course, the Venoge river passes through wetlands, marshes, and riparian forests and finally reaches its delta at Lake Geneva. (Above: Sections in the watershed every 1 km, Sources: Swisstopo)

The river can be expressed as a Subject in its own right. As EcoFeminist Vandana Shiva advocates, "Water needs to be valued not as a commodity, but as a vital resource. Its value lies not in its price but in its sacred connection to the communities around it" (Shiva 2016).

The river is perceived as a living organism, able to create productive grounds for territorial, social, and environmental formations. This can be generated along an ever-changing community water system, having the flooding processes as a mechanism to regenerate the landscape.

The transformation of agricultural practice and village work /life through reframing environmental stewardship as its priority.

The industrial in the Venoge watershed, with its sparse density and large parking areas, offers a chance for transformation. Incorporating the river's rights, it can become a harmonious area combining residential, production, and workspaces, creating a dynamic, multifunctional environment.

Through environmental stewardship, various social actors are integrated into a coherent cultural infrastructure that is part of the ecological system.

Through the implementation of the river’s rights concept, cascading effects are rippled through the entire social-ecological system. The result is an all encompassing counter project that reframes the existing Venoge territorial dynamics.