Designs of Kings and Farmers: Landscape Systems of the Greater Angkor Urban Complex

The relationship between centralized and decentralized planning traditions is here investigated, using a topographic classification of the landscape based on extensive mapping from remote sensed imagery and fieldwork conducted from 2007 – 2010. Covering about 1000 km² of rice fields, and including 22,000 km of rice-field bunds, the topographic classification of the rice-field systems reveals two very different ways of building: these two systems are best described as coaxial systems and cardinal systems.

According to the author, ​‘this classification =contributes to our conception of the landscape structure of the Angkorian and pre-Angkorian periods. Cardinal systems are often found in association with formal settlement complexes and large hydraulic infrastructure established by Angkorian elites. By contrast, coaxial systems are often distinguished by a repetitive pattern of small, similarly aligned local temples and ponds, possibly constructed through more incremental processes accessible to local communities without direct intervention from the state. The lack of tight integration with state infrastructure and spatial administration raises the possibility that the coaxial system originated before the superstructure of the Angkorian state.