Goa has been historically shaped by mobility systems linked to rivers and the sea. Its habitats have responded to local, regional and global forces along these waterways to create a distinctive network of villages and towns.

 

These are interspersed with fields and forests with each settlement connected to the others through roads. For this state, it is a continuing challenge to balance this structure with emerging metropolitan land-centric models that often override older systems.

 

Goa really should be considered as a series of networks of habitats – towns, cities and villages that are connected via waterways and roads and inhabited by highly mobile populations. These have always been shaping how local and regional markets emerge and expand connecting villages and urban hubs in very dynamic ways.

 

By making waterways as important as other mobility systems like railways, roads and air, the state will be able to build on the water as the historical foundation of its civic infrastructure. This includes the revitalization of all water bodies - traditional tanks, wells, ponds, lakes and canals.

 

Such an emphasis will help us integrate the monsoons into the modern infrastructural needs of the state to create a healthy ecosystem around water bodies and make water the basis of thinking about the future of the state.