Leonie Lieberherr, Jonathan Sedding

This is an investigation into the intricate topic of interrelations between agricultural production, water availability and their evolving infrastructure and urban forms. Permanent settlement has been around in Oman for a very long time, something that the presence of water springs, groundwater, along with the wadis has allowed for. The traditional settlement types have emerged around the various types of farming, which have been optimized in accordance to their sites particular water availability. The balance within such a ‘tri-component system’, water-agriculture-settlement, is, and has always been, delicate. In Oman there are two main categories of ‘agricultures’ the oasis in the mountains and deserts with their springs and wadis, and the coastal-close agriculture of the plain organized around the groundwater accessibility. This balance is now being put under pressure, and it is an open question whether or not the government’s aim to reach a level of self-sufficiency with in food production is realistic or not.