Landscape and Urban Planning 166 (2017) 85–89

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Landscape and Urban Planning

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A revised approach to the energy-water nexus using place-work-folk and MARK

energy balance theories of Patrick Geddes
Kristina Tajchman
University of Texas at Austin, 110 Inner Campus Drive, Austin, TX 78705, United States

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The use of energy to transport, treat, pump, convey, cool, and heat water and the parallel use of water to extract,
Patrick Geddes refine, and use energy is a relationship known as the energy-water nexus. Not only is this relationship growing in
Place-work-folk importance as population growth and increasing living standards strain both resources, but it also becomes more
Energy-water nexus problematic as energy production moves towards more water intensive practices and water requires increasing
Environmental planning
more energy to use. Despite a growing awareness of this connection a lack of understanding exists across sta-
Sustainability
Energy balance sheet
keholders in both fields and a significant need exists for better cross-coordination and planning.
Over a century ago urban planner, Sir Patrick Geddes, provided ideas about environmental and civic planning
that if employed may improve the mutual constraints between energy and water. Specifically, Geddes’ devel-
opment of 1) the integrated concept of “place-work-folk” described below, and 2) his suggestion for ranking and
promoting societal activities based on their dual importance to society and impact on nature, provide a balanced
approach to the energy-water nexus. Representative of his holistic thinking, both ideas recognize the mutual
dependence between people and their environment as a relationship necessary for life enhancement and survival
of both. This analysis employs a historical review of Geddes’ theories with logical argumentation to illustrate the
modern applicability of his planning concepts to just one area of sustainable development with the intent that
their potential utility to other domains will become more apparent.

1. Introduction
In this article I draw attention to the mutually supporting and
constraining connection between energy and water resources in a re-
lationship known by policy makers and academics as the energy-water
nexus. On one side of the relationship requirements for water to be at
the right temperature, physical state, salinity, location, and time of year
require a significant amount of energy to achieve. New findings by
researchers indicate, for example, that the United States public water
supply alone uses 6.1% of national electricity consumption (Twomey
and Webber, 2011). On the other side of the relationship employment
of petroleum, natural gas, and coal as energy sources requires a parallel
use of water in production, extraction, and generation. The average
American household, for example, uses 29 kW of electricity requiring
10 gallons of water to produce each day (Mills, Gabriel, & Gabriel,
2012), and contributes to making thermoelectric power plants the
single largest user of water in the United States.
This relationship is becoming progressively more important as 1)
population growth, urbanization, increasing living standards, and
changes in food consumption place increasing strains on both resources,
2) energy production moves towards more water intensive practices
such as biofuels and shale gas, and 3) water requires increasingly more
energy to be used. Thus as energy constraints become water constraints,
water constraints become energy constraints (Webber, 2013a). Un-
fortunately the relationship between the two resources is not commonly
recognized or understood. Not only does a lack of data prevent the clear
articulation of water and energy consumed on both sides, but also ex-
isting institutions are set up to address one resource or the other under a
prioritization schema driven by outdated precedents.
Despite these challenges it is important to recognize energy and
water stakeholders, planners, and policy-makers can have a positive
influence on this relationship. Researchers estimate, for example, that
power plants could conserve more water than all of the U.S. water
conservation methods combined if they modernized their cooling sys-
tems (Wilson, Leipzig, & Griffiths-Sattenspiel, 2012). Thus planners and
policymakers have significant opportunities to make a difference in the
unique relationship between energy and water. In response to calls for
further study from the United States (U.S.) Congress (King et al.,
2013King, Stillwell, Twomey, & Webber, 2013), in this paper I explore
opportunities to manage these resources using environmental and civic
planning theories developed by Scottish urban planner, Patrick Geddes,
that are especially relevant to the challenges of the energy-water nexus.

E-mail address: kristina.tajchman@gmail.com.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.05.016
Received 22 July 2015; Received in revised form 3 April 2017; Accepted 19 May 2017
Available online 12 June 2017
0169-2046/ © 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
K. Tajchman
The research methods I employ are primarily a historical review of
Geddes’ theories with logical argumentation of how they may apply to
challenges in energy and water planning using state and national en-
ergy and water consumption and production data.
One of Geddes’ key theories was inspired by the work of the French
economist Frederic le Play who categorized sociology into the three
elements: Lieu, Travail, Famille, or Place, Work, Folk. With an academic
background rich in biological studies, Geddes quickly identified the
counterpart of le Play’s sociology elements in biology as: Environment,
Function, Organism (Stalley, 1972). He then blended these two triads
and applied them to social issues as a way to describe the mutual in-
fluence landscape (place) has on the occupations (work) and the society
(folk) that develop in a region. Today the concept of place is often re-
ferred to as a sense of place but continues to include connotations of
identity and character. Folk may be more usefully thought of as the
cultivation of community and group identity, and work generally en-
compasses employment, career, manual and creative work.
Geddes also added to the value of the original triad by emphasizing
the importance of their interrelationships and strongly encouraging
their study as an organically related whole. Place-WORK, for example,
represents work that develops in a specific place such as mining in
mountainous terrain or fishing near the sea, and place-FOLK represents
people influenced by their environment such as the Eskimo culture that
develops in colder climates (Boardman, 1944). Examples of these in-
terrelationships are illustrated in my recreation of one of his many
Place-Folk-Work diagrams in Fig. 1.
Geddes understood comprehending each of these elements drove
the necessity for extensive data collection, or survey. A regional survey
in fact became one of Geddes’ trademark contributions to the field of
urban planning and as I show below, is a key element linking his
planning theory to the energy-water nexus. Geddes emphasized the
survey first method as a correction in the chronological order of existing
town planning efforts. Specifically he noticed planning efforts in Great
Britain were proceeding before adequately surveying the geographical,
cultural, and historical factors that create a city (Boardman, 1944).
Without this understanding Geddes considered the resulting town plans
as passable, but missing the key opportunity to create the best possible
plan. He therefore appealed for an end to ‘the isolation of our present
facts from past ones,’ and to redirect these efforts encouraged con-
sideration of the historical factors that profoundly modify the local si-
tuation and lead to different social fabrics (Geddes, 1915). This advice
is especially useful to planners as they leverage lessons learned from
previous planning efforts impacted by culture in unexpected ways.
Similarly Geddes saw the historical segregation of rural and urban
planning as detrimental to their common interests. Instead he en-
couraged combining rural and urban data and analyzing it together in a
regional report that relates a town not only to its immediate environ-
ment but also to the larger surrounding region (Geddes, 1915). As ex-
plained by one of Geddes key biographers, Paddy Kitchen, “By under-
standing the origin of city professions in the natural occupations of their
rural ancestors, Geddes claimed that planners were better placed to
undertake the re-creation of the city region,” (Kitchen, 1975). The de-
sire to understand professional origin and its’ rural influence explains
why Geddes’ proposed such an extensive list of areas for study that
PLACE place-WORK place-FOLK
(Geography) (or geographical (or geographical
ECONOMICS) ANTHROPOLOGY)
WORK-place WORK work-FOLK
(economic (Economics) (economic
GEOGRAPHY) ANTHROPOLOGY)
folk-PLACE folk-WORK FOLK
(anthropological (anthropological (Anthropology)
GEOGRAPHY) ECONOMICS)
Fig. 1. Place-Work-Folk Diagram of Respective Sciences (Recreated from Geddes in
Boardman, 1944).
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Landscape and Urban Planning 166 (2017) 85–89
range from geographical maps and social statistics, to historical means
of communication and commerce.
A second key aspect of the Place-Work-Folk relationship is that the
paradigm may be reversed as Folk → Work → Place. To illustrate con-
sider primitive societies in which the surroundings influenced the oc-
cupations that developed depending on the environment, such as
hunting that is predominantly found in heavily forested areas. In more
modern times people began to have greater social mobility and thus
greater choice in their occupations. Kitchen describes, “people were not
necessarily mechanistically determined by environment in the
Darwinian sense, but could exercise their own will,” (Kitchen, 1975).
For Geddes it follows that, “Having chosen their work, they can fashion
the place; they can mould the environment in harmony with their
ideals,” (Geddes in Kitchen, 1975). I suggest it is this concept of making
occupational and cultural choices based on ideals that is especially
important in applying Geddesian planning to the energy-water nexus in
order to make tough decisions between competing priorities for these
resources.
In the following sections my application of Geddes’ notions of Place-
Work-Folk begins with Place-Work. I show how understanding the
place by conducting a regional survey of energy and water resources
aligns the work by integrating the individual institutions for their joint
benefit. In the second section I explore Work-Folk using modernization
of the electric grid and reprioritizing and committing to revised water
laws as opportunities to improve both the occupational and cultural
utility of water and energy resources. In the final section I complete the
linkage with Folk-Place using the examples of development near sand
dunes and drought disaster resilience and mitigation to emphasize how
the environment is impacted by an energy-water culture − defined
here as the values, principles, and beliefs that accompany energy and
water consumption and related technological development. I also ex-
plore how the energy and water character of the environment influence
the culture of the region in this section.
2. Place-work
One of the relationships Geddes explores in the place-work-folk
triad is Place-WORK. This combination signifies, “natural advantages
which determine work of each kind at the right place for it,” (Geddes in
Kitchen, 1975) and is also labeled as geographical economics in Fig. 1.
In this relationship understanding the geography or natural advantages
of a place conditions the type of work, thus the need for geographic and
social surveys are especially important to identify not only the occu-
pational alternatives that have already been acknowledged but also the
possibility of new ones.
With respect to energy I suggest this could mean, for instance, in-
itiating a renewable energy industry in a region in which it did not
inherently develop on its own. Wind power technology, for example,
has been adopted in European countries since around 1000 CE. (U.S.
DOE, 2013). In the United States on the other hand, despite a history of
using wind technology and significant wind capacity, wind energy as an
industry did not take off until the early 21st century (U.S. DOE, GWEC
in Webber, 2013b). Many factors have contributed to this delay, how-
ever, following Geddes’ guidance to survey then plan to the natural
advantages of a region I believe may have supported an earlier devel-
opment of this industry in the appropriate locations.
With respect to the energy-water nexus, data collection and analysis
grew in the early 2000′s (King et al., 2013). To date key areas of
published energy-water nexus research are provided in the following
Table 1.
Together these efforts have brought attention to the energy-water
nexus and provided empirical data to understand the relationship in
which energy constraints become water constraints and water con-
straints become energy constraints. A significant source of data for
much of this research has come from existing databases, such as the
energy database provided by the Energy Information Agency (EIA).
K. Tajchman Landscape and Urban Planning 166 (2017) 85–89

Table 1 regional approach allows energy-water stakeholders to promote occu-

Key Areas of Published Energy-Water Nexus Research. pational decision-making and job opportunities that may better align to
the mutually constraining reality of the energy-water nexus.
Key Areas of Published Energy-Water Nexus Research
An important clarification to make in my application of Geddes’
Water-saving technical solutions (Shi, 2012) place-WORK relationship is related to his commitment to the creation
Risk assessment of drought on power production (Woldeyesus, 2012) of a living city. Within this objective a prioritization is given to the
Region specific water consumption for energy production (Elcock, 2010)
requirements of life itself, such as ecological health and happiness
Technical and policy tradeoffs (King et al., 2013)
Links between energy, carbon, and economic value of reclaimed water (Stillwell, (Welter, 2002). His commitment thus rejects the development of a work
King, Webber, Duncan, & Hardberger, 2010) economy focused on financial growth dependent upon use of ecologi-
County impacts of severe water shortages on power production (Sovacol and Sovacol, cally harmful resources such as coal and oil, which fail to approach the
2009) requirements of a city region in a holistic way. In summary Geddes’
emphasis of the place-WORK relationship may be especially effective in
the energy-water nexus as it addresses the need to collect energy-water
This type of comprehensive and public energy dataset promotes a
data and promote the associated development of employment oppor-
common understanding of the resource and more efficient research
tunities that are ecologically appropriate for the collective resources of
through shared information. Unfortunately, a similar comprehensive
a specific region.
database does not exist for water nor do complete multi-level datasets.
Specifically after a recent evaluation of the data gap researchers in-
3. Work-folk
dicate there is 1) outdated information for energy consumption by
water and wastewater plants, 2) incomplete data for water-related end-
The second relationship of the Place-Work-Folk triad that pertains
uses in residential and commercial sectors, and 3) a poor accounting for
to the energy-water nexus is Work-FOLK. Geddes describes this as the
losses and leaks in the public water supply (Sanders & Webber, 2012).
development of occupations specific to a region that then crafted the
This leads to a reduced ability to analyze the two resources together and
culture, psychology, and personalities of the community (Kitchen,
improve communication and understanding of the energy-water nexus.
1975). Under this premise the work of quarrying, mining and forestry,
Without this understanding key contributions to the energy-water
for example, influences the urban culture surrounding iron and steel
nexus are left as unknowns for planners and policymakers.
foundries and timber or paper merchants (Kitchen, 1975). Assuming
This problem is magnified by the lack of understanding about the
this natural link between the dominant occupations and culture of a
relationship between energy and water in an institutional structure that
region I encourage planners and policymakers to recognize the oppor-
treats them independently. Currently there are significant institutional
tunity in using the energy-water relationship to shape both the work
gaps preventing coordination of a path forward across multiple water
opportunities mentioned above and the energy-water culture in a mu-
and energy agencies, such as unclear administrative roles or opposing
tually beneficial way.
political agendas (King et al., 2013). I leave the politics, degree of ob-
To guide the complex effort of simultaneously considering work and
duracy, and vested interest in this structure for future work, however,
culture a key planning tool suggested by Geddes is an energy balance
one consequence of this structure addressed here is that both water and
sheet. Specifically, Geddes suggests measuring the amount of energy
energy stakeholders lack cross-coordination of the energy-water re-
waste associated with human activities in order to highlight the in-
lationship. Consider for instance the long-haul water transfer and de-
efficiencies in society (Geddes, 1881; Geddes, 1884). Geddes intended
salination decisions for water needs that ignore energy, and steam-cycle
this unit of measure be used to assess the waste associated with pro-
power plants or biofuel decisions for energy that ignore water (King
duction of a product, and more specifically to relate energy consump-
et al., 2013). Lacking a recognition for the complex pathways in which
tion to different social functions at any given moment in time. Collec-
these resources are interrelated can lead water planners to overlook
tively this type of balance sheet could be used to show depletion of
energy implications and energy planners to overlook water implica-
natural resources from human activity and be used as an argument for
tions. Unfortunately my conclusion is that this type of decision-making
conservation (Studholme, 2007). This concept is explored throughout
leaves planners in both fields with a reduced ability to promote sus-
Geddes’s work and his ideas continue to support the development to
tainability as a whole.
this field of ecological economics. Exploring his contribution to the field
The combined lack of information, understanding, and coordination
and the importance of this concept in Geddes’ teachings is left for other
is a unique opportunity however to take advantage of Geddes’ regional
work, however, I believe applying the concept of this balance sheet to
approach. First, the benefit of a regional survey is the ability to un-
water provides a similar framework to understand water waste with
derstand the geographic dimension of energy and water characteristics,
different social functions.
or PLACE. This is especially important to energy and water due to their
A contemporary opportunity to use the energy balance sheet con-
regional variations in types of climate, topography, regulatory en-
cept exists in the transition from analog to digital electric meters or
vironments, sources of energy, sources of water, the business economy,
smart meters, an effort also known as the smart grid. Digital meters are
and local objectives. Not only is this data required for each resource,
capable of providing feedback to utility customers through computer-
but also for the impact that each resource has on each other. With both
ized automation and communication and provide consumers informa-
energy and water data for each possible alternative, decisions can be
tion about their electricity choices. This is especially important in cases
made that are more sustainable for the region as a whole.
where there is a lack of understanding about the connection between
Second, recognizing the regional character of these resources and
daily activities and energy consumption. Many electric customers, for
the inherent need to make regional decisions about both energy and
example, may not be aware that the demand for energy and conse-
water footprints also leads to a revised approach for development of the
quently the cost for energy peaks during the middle of the day as the
economy, or WORK. Energy and water planners and policymakers need
number of power plants needed to support demand during this time is
to be enabled with an organizational structure that promotes informa-
higher than non-peak hours. Thus a smart meter provides insight into
tion sharing, integrated schedules, and an efficient use of funding such
this relationship that the consumer may use to adjust their individual
that they can take more far-sighted action and support projects that
consumption patterns.
make sense for these resources. To fill the existing gap between plan-
With better information at hand, consumers are able to rank the
ning efforts conducted at the federal level that I see as too distant from
importance of their activities to their day and learn to justify their
challenges of any specific region, and local levels that are more likely to
energy consumption in some cases, or find an alternative in others.
reflect on-the-ground performance of individualized projects, the
With millions of smart meters being installed across the country, not

87
K. Tajchman
only has there been a significant opportunity to influence work through
sustainability-related jobs, but this effort can also encourage a more
sustainable individual consumption culture. Thus in the work-FOLK
relationship I identify a dual justification for planners to promote this
activity.
A second opportunity to utilize the work-FOLK relationship in en-
ergy-water planning is the current regulatory structure that prioritizes
energy and water consumption for economic and social uses.
Historically the work opportunities found in farming, ranching, or
mining, have developed under energy and water regulation with little
regard for environmental impact. Assuming the Work-Folk relationship
that Geddes identifies, this type of high resource consumption work
goes hand-in-hand with a high resource consumption culture.
In the western United States, for example, water law is based on
prior appropriation, an approach that fixes water rights on a first-come,
first-served basis. In this approach water is commoditized and can be
sold or transferred like private property. According to law professor
William L. Andreen, this is problematic due to the lack of consideration
for wasting water and also for the lack of consideration for non-con-
sumptive use such as healthy stream flows and ecological processes
(Andreen in Grafton and Hussey, 2011). Specifically Andreen explains,
“The state agencies that administer this system also had statutory au-
thority to deny allocation permits that violate the public interest, but in
most cases they simply authorized all appropriations… On account of
its ‘first in time, first in right’ principle, the doctrine spurred people to
divert as much water as possible as quickly as possible, often en-
couraging inefficient practices. Senior users, moreover, have little
reason to conserve since they often lose nothing during periods of low
flow,” (Andreen in Grafton and Hussey, 2011). As a result, the current
prioritization of water uses does not adequately match societal or en-
vironmental needs. It is important for me to note here the twofold
problem recognized by Professor Andreen in both the strength of
commitment reflected in the law to more sustainable water withdrawal
practices, as well as the strength of the social commitment to enforcing
the regulation and both falling short of achieving acceptable water
management.
Alternatively, applying Geddes’ balance sheet concept to water
regulation provides a method for the reallocation of priorities in a re-
vised legal structure. Instead of the current structure which bases
priorities on agricultural, industrial, and municipal uses deemed eco-
nomically or socially critical, I suggest the law may be broadened to
include environmental uses that currently have little political or legal
support. More specifically protecting the natural ecosystems that sup-
port native life and also provide clean air and water has inherent value
that is under recognized. A reprioritized schema may then consider the
social, economic, and ecological (i.e. Folk, Work, Place) benefit and
waste of each water use to decide water allocation rights. With a cul-
tural shift that encourages this reprioritization, I suggest the associated
economic opportunities found in farming, ranching, or mining may also
shift towards work with more sustainable water use. In summary,
Geddes’ Work-FOLK relationship is relevant to the energy-water nexus
for the opportunity planners and policymakers have to simultaneously
influence both the work and cultural environment towards a more
sustainable path.
4. Folk-place
The final relationship of the Place-Work-Folk triad that strengthens
the energy-water nexus is Folk-PLACE, which specifically ties the cul-
ture of a society to the environment. Geddes identified an explicit role
in which action was required in the struggle between society and the
environment in order to promote positive tendencies and discourage
those that were negative or destructive in order to reach a better way of
life (Munshi, 2000). The two threads of his thought are that not only
can planners encourage a cultural adjustment to protect the environ-
ment from society, but they can also encourage development in a way
88
Landscape and Urban Planning 166 (2017) 85–89
that also protects society from the environment.
Geddes cautions, “when any given environment or function, how-
ever apparently “productive,” is really fraught with disastrous influence
to the organism, its modification must be attempted, or failing that, its
abandonment faced,” (Geddes, 1881). I find an example of this concept
in a community’s choice to ignore or accept the natural environmental
limits that should govern a given level of development, or at very least
the level of preparation for weather-related disaster scenarios. Urban
planner, Ian McHarg, further applies this concept by identifying the
many opportunities that exist to design with nature.
For example, McHarg uses knowledge collected about the basic
nature of sand dunes, such as the tolerance of the beach to human re-
creational use and the intolerance of walking or trampling of the pri-
mary dunes under threat of flooding, to create a code of basic prohi-
bitions for human living, (McHarg, 1992). Specifically he recommends
that if the dune is to offer a defense against storms and flooding, new
development should not be permitted on the primary dune, (McHarg,
1992). In this manner he avoids a blanket prohibition of humans on the
sand dune, and instead recommends limited use that protects both the
sand beach from humans and ensures humans are protected by the
environment. He essentially proposes the best solutions are those that
provide the maximum social benefit at the lease social cost (McHarg,
1992). In this manner I consider McHarg’s suggestion an example of
Folk-PLACE for the culture that supports development in accordance
with the natural limits of the location or in opposition to natural limits.
Using drought-related disaster planning as an example, I also find
the pertinence of applying Folk-PLACE to the energy-water nexus in the
ability to build a culture that better supports the energy and water
character of the environment, and adapts to the energy and water en-
vironment in a way that better supports the culture. Specifically this
includes 1) a community’s commitment to resisting the development of
power infrastructure that adversely impacts critical water resources,
and 2) creating an infrastructure that can better absorb extended water
shortages in terms of water and power impacts on society. This is im-
portant to society because drought related disasters affect more people
in the U.S. than any other weather-related hazard and incurs estimated
losses from $16 to $18 billion (Schmidt and Garland, 2012). Similarly
this strategy is important to the environment for its ability to reduce
freshwater withdrawal from ecosystems as mentioned in the introduc-
tion.
Given the heavy reliance of cooling existing power plants with
freshwater, for example, one mitigation step in support of drought
mitigation is to ensure new power plants are not approved until a clear
and appropriate water resource is secured. While this may include in-
creased competition for freshwater sources, it may also include the
more expensive but technically feasible option of competing for a city’s
waste water. In the state of Texas, for example, some research indicates
sufficient water supplies exist for power plants until 2030 but all new
development would require currently unidentified water sources (ANL,
2007). To address this issue up front requires a pre-planned prior-
itization of water rights and uses where power plants are located in
areas with a high risk of severe drought. Just as importantly, I contend
this prioritization must be supported by society and decision-makers
must not be allowed to make exceptions that reflect a different prior-
itization schema. In this manner the culture of supporting new devel-
opment at all ecological, social, and economic cost is curbed according
to natural limitations of place and the environment is less strained to
support increasing population growth. Conversely adherence to this
commitment will ensure the culture is also better protected by the en-
vironment through a reduced risk of power plant shutdown during
times of severe drought. In summary, Geddes’ folk-PLACE relationship
is relevant to the energy-water nexus for the double emphasis placed on
both reducing strains on ecosystems from freshwater use in power
production, and also protecting society from the effects of extended
severe drought.
K. Tajchman
5. Conclusion
Given their dual dependency and the associated challenges of en-
ergy and water discussed above, I have extracted a framework that is
naturally tuned to their relationship from the Place-Work-Folk teach-
ings of Patrick Geddes. Following his basic guidance the mutual con-
straints from increasing energy demands of new freshwater sources and
the increasing water demands of new sources of energy may be easier to
mitigate. The Geddes’s planning strategies that are especially useful to
the energy-water nexus include the need for extensive regional survey,
a holistic institutional approach, a reprioritization of social and eco-
nomic activity that is balanced against impact, and a cultural respect of
environmental limitations that govern development. Given the nature
of these suggestions, I propose the effort may be further strengthened
by exploring the application of Complexity Theory and Science and
Technology Studies (STS). This suggestion is left for further research,
however, the holistic framework of these methods inherently compli-
ment Geddes’s work.
First, conducting a regional survey of energy and water resources
and reorganizing their associated institutions enables integrated plan-
ning in a way that is more beneficial than historically individualized
energy and water planning. Through attention to Place-WORK, the
development of occupations that best fit a particular environment,
economic development may be strengthened by a regional survey that
identifies more appropriate occupations for a particular region and
better account for the constraints of the energy-water nexus.
Next a reprioritization of human activity balancing a set of suitable
societal, economic, and environmental needs support a new energy-
water nexus. Using modernization of the electric grid through smart
meters as example, I have shown how a societies’ commitment to sus-
tainability can change the work of the utility industry, as well as the
reverse impact of utility technology changing the knowledge and cul-
ture of electricity consumers. With this understanding it becomes
clearer that regulatory barriers, such as water law, need to be reprior-
itized and supported in order to improve the occupational and cultural
utility of these resources from a combined societal, economical, and
ecological perspective. Accepting that occupations have an impact on
the culture of a community and the reverse, the Work-FOLK relation-
ship indicates improving energy and water occupational work or energy
and water culture of necessity supports the other.
Finally, embedded in a cultural change that recognizes natural de-
sign limitations, I have shown how urban development may be guided
in a way that better accommodates the energy-water nexus. Using re-
cycled wastewater in thermoelectric power plant generation as a part of
drought disaster resilience and mitigation as example, I show how so-
ciety may commit to building an infrastructure with reduced impact on
the environment, and also leave an opening for the energy and water
character of the environment to have less negative impacts on society.
Folk-PLACE is thus the third key relationship for energy and water
planners to consider.
In closing, Geddes summarizes his expressive notions of Place-Work-
Folk with, “From these three separate notes of life we thus get a central
unified Chord of Life,” (Geddes in Boardman, 1944). Thus the unique
contribution to planning embedded in his approach is the creation of a
planning framework in direct support of life of all types. With his in-
sistence on caring about the past in the present, bringing together rural
and urban life, and holistically considering humanity and his
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Landscape and Urban Planning 166 (2017) 85–89
environment together, Geddes avoided placing greater importance on
some life over others. Instead he recognized a universal inter-
connectedness and interdependence that pervades them all.
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Kristina Tajchman is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Community & Regional Planning
Department at the University of Texas. Her area of research interest is the energy-water
nexus and planning for modernization of electric and water infrastructure. She is taking
an interdisciplinary approach and intends to combine systems engineering and planning
expertise to promote the reduction of energy used for water and water used for energy. A
native of central Kansas, Kristina earned her B.S. in aerospace engineering from Wichita
State University in Wichita, Kansas and an M.A. in political science, from Washington
University in St. Louis, Missouri. She has thirteen years of systems engineering experience
in the defense industry and has most recently contributed to the upcoming book, Human
Collaboration in Homeland Security.