Relation between man and water: the awareness of living water for sustainable design.

Water is the most precious and one of the most threatened resources on earth: environmental, economic, social and management factors are posing at risk this precious resource. The roots of these problems can be traced in the loss of relation between man and water: from being a vital element with a spiritual character, water has become seen as just a commodity over which to make profit. Through the analysis of how the changing relation between man and water in history has been translated in the design of different kinds of tools for water management, the aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of the Systemic Design approach, based on the awareness of living water, to the project of water related tools to design sustainable products.