The University of New South Wales

Faculty Member, Faculty of Built Environment

Other Affiliations: University of Sydney, Philosophical and Historical Inquiry

Lecturer

Thesis Title: Metropolis of Ricefileds : a topographic classification of Angkor's urban landscape

About

I am working as part of the Greater Angkor Project, an international, multidisciplinary research programme interested in the decline of urbanism at Angkor, in Cambodia. Specifically, the project is investigating the relationship between the vast extent of Angkor between the 9th to 16th centuries AD, land clearance for rice production and regional ecological damage both then and now. The study has implications for the past and the future health of the regional ecosystem, sustainable development and the management of Angkor as a national and an international cultural resource. My specialisation is in the mapping and analysis of the medieval ricefields associated with the dispersed landscape urbanism of Angkor.

ABSTRACT

In recent years a comprehensive understanding of the dispersed nature of Angkor has been contributed by the Greater Angkor Project. However the image of the city remains as a network of infrastructure floating in space. This thesis suggests that the open space of the metropolis, structured by ricefields, provides a critical link in understanding both the operational and temporal structure of the city. Angkor was a metropolis of ricefields.
The medieval ricefield systems of Angkor have already been shown to be integral to the settlement layout of the urban complex by Christophe Pottier. However, to date, there has been no systematic analysis and classification of medieval field systems as a data source in their own right. New topographic mapping and classification of 1000 km sq of rice field networks from remote sensed imagery, provides substantial new insight into the structure of the metropolis.
A picture of the urban complex as a dynamic continuum, evolving according to broad time scales of material change rather than rapid cycles of kingship is developed. Such ideas build upon the theories pioneered by B-P Groslier. Three major phases characterized the dynamism of this metropolitan landscape. The first is the radial landscape of prehistoric Angkor closely adapted to natural riverine landscapes. The second is the massive subdivision and planning of land that that characterizes the early historic period and establishes the economic base for the foundation of Angkor. The final phase is identified by the adaptation of previous material structures and spatial strategies to fit with fresh conceptions of idealized space marking the Angkorian period.
The idea of the landscape as consisting of specific geometric spatial signatures representing different periods is discussed with reference to theories of palimpsests. The landscape is presented as a topographic palimpsest embodying the processes of construction, maintenance, abandonment, destruction and renewal. The combined methods of anthropological and morphological analysis are used with theories derived from landscape ecology to allow a multi-scalar understanding of the metropolis extending from the village level mechanics of ricefield operation, to a larger regional picture of metropolitan zones or patches.

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