Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained - (History of the Urban Environment) by Martin Knoll & Uwe Lubken & Dieter Schott (Hardcover)

About the Book

Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained discusses how cities have gained control and exerted power over rivers and waterways far upstream and downstream; how rivers and floodplains in cityscapes have been transformed by urbanization and industrialization; how urban rivers have been represented in cultural manifestations, such as novels and songs; and discusses more recent strategies to redefine and recreate the place of the river within the urban setting.

Book Synopsis

Many cities across the globe are rediscovering their rivers. After decades or even centuries of environmental decline and cultural neglect, waterfronts have been vamped up and become focal points of urban life again; hidden and covered streams have been daylighted while restoration projects have returned urban rivers in many places to a supposedly more natural state. This volume traces the complex and winding history of how cities have appropriated, lost, and regained their rivers. But rather than telling a linear story of progress, the chapters of this book highlight the ambivalence of these developments.

The four sections in Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained discuss how cities have gained control and exerted power over rivers and waterways far upstream and downstream; how rivers and floodplains in cityscapes have been transformed by urbanization and industrialization; how urban rivers have been represented in cultural manifestations, such as novels and songs; and how more recent strategies work to redefine and recreate the place of the river within the urban setting. At the nexus between environmental, urban, and water histories, Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained points out how the urban-river relationship can serve as a prime vantage point to analyze fundamental issues of modern environmental attitudes and practices.

Review Quotes

A good read for environmental planners and urban historians.-- "Journal of Urban Technology"

At the nexus between environmental, urban, and water histories, Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained points out how the city-river relationship can serve as a prime vantage point to analyze the fundamental issues of modern environmental attitudes and practices.-- "Journal for the American Water Resources Association"

First and foremost, Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained is about interactions between a city and its river. This interaction is simultaneous, as the city transforms the river, the river transforms the city. This is effectively demonstrated in a collection of case studies that form a journey around the globe to the hybrid river-cities relationships of different contexts and time periods. An inspirational component of this book is the historical analyses of how cities try to regain their lost rivers--Tunjuelo in Colombia and Fez in Morocco, are fascinating examples.-- "Eva Jakobsson, University of Stavanger"

The book is an enjoyable, detailed account of urban history as it relates to the surrounding natural environment.-- "Choice"

About the Author

Martin Knoll is professor for the History of European Regions at the University of Salzburg, Austria.
Uwe Lübken is professor of American history at Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich.
Dieter Schott is professor for Modern History at Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany.