Water and the modern engineered city: the Association of Water Engineers in a British and transnational context, 1896-1914

摘要

This article shows how the primary water engineering institute of the United Kingdom, the association of water engineers [1896-1987(Now known as Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management after merger with other bodies in 1987)], conceptualised the city and its hinterlands. Using The Transactions of the Association of Water Engineers, an under-utilised record of engineering practice, this article shows that by 1914, water engineers had begun to conceive of the modern engineered city in similar terms, seen through the domestic and international nature of the Associations membership, discussions that took place around visits to different waterworks schemes across the country, and investigations regarding materiality, such as the standardisation of iron pipes. The paper also includes a transnational perspective, examining reports and expeditions made by engineers from the Association to other European municipalities during the first decade of the twentieth century to learn from differences in approach to British waterworks. This transnational focus examines relationships across borders through the Association's role in coordinating and circulating examples of international practice through its Transactions.