An Incremental Humid Park: Countering Toxic Infrastructures, Restructuring Diffused UrbanitiesNida Karisik, Michaela Prunotto, Sneha Sinha Roy, and Christina Strantzali

At the Foron Watershed there is a fragile entwinement and leakage of flows. Expanding transport infrastructure is proximate and in tension with the wetland river system, which itself is fragmenting yet volatile. Whereas growing infrastructure contaminates the wetland ecosystem, the wetland pushes back, unpredictably saturating the built environment through flooding and erosive forces. Each entity attacks the other through the intensification brought about by carbon-heavy accumulation. We employ two lenses—Deep Time and Shallow Time—to analyse the territory. Whereas Deep Time explores the Watershed’s geomorphological formation, Shallow Time refers to anthropogenic modifications that damage river systems with alarming environmental and economic consequences. Emblematic of this latter, toxic infrastructure, a new Highway A412 has been proposed between the towns of Thonon and Machilly. In reaction to this contested highway and toxic infrastructure, we propose an Incremental Humid Park. Beginning at a small grain scale, the park intends to restructure perceptions of the Watershed, at a first priority re-establishing legibility of the river and wetlands while also encouraging collective care. Through engagement with the water network, alternative forms of mobility, social cohesion and inhabitation can emerge.