Redesigning the landscape to maintain a connection with water: urban rivers and climate change according to Paola Viganò

From the earliest settlements in Mesopotamia to the challenges of climate change, rivers have shaped the landscape and economy of our citiesToday, faced with an environmental emergency requiring immediate responses, redesigning our relationship with water is no longer just a matter of hydraulic engineering, but a challenge that extends to concepts of social justice and democracy.

The river and urban civilization, an indissoluble bond

Rivers and urban life They have been linked since long before the birth of industry. And humans have always attempted to domesticate waterways. Without river water diverted into canals and irrigation systems, there would not have been the agricultural revolution of the Neolithic, which allowed the development of sedentary socio-economic systems capable of producing food surpluses, feeding an ever-increasing population. The first cities were born in 4th millennium BC in Lower Mesopotamia, where the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers met in vast swamps, temporary lakes, and secondary branches that formed a single, large river delta. Since then, the very concept of a city has remained inextricably linked to a riverbed.

Electricity, railroads, and highways will be needed for cities to grow and prosper far from fresh water. And as the first urban centers emerge, free from rivers, humans acquire techniques and tools to harness the energy of the river, channel its flow into concreted beds and slow it down with dams and tailings basins.

The continuous manipulation of rivers, however, together with the habit of using them as a channel for the disposal of industrial waste, has had a very high environmental cost, which today we are called upon to manage on several fronts - also because rivers, during extreme climatic events, they tend to take back the space they occupied. As he explains Paola Viganò, professor at the EPFL Urban Planning Laboratory who has been studying the integration between natural and urban environments for years,

Rivers are highly complex ecosystems that raise numerous questions in many areas: ecological, political, and social. River management requires not only technical solutions but also political consensus and alliances between the various stakeholders.

Cities and Climate Change: "Every Drop Counts"

Il Rhone, for example, has undergone profound transformations and has lost a significant part of its biodiversity. third correction The Rhone River in the cantons of Valais and Vaud is the largest flood protection project in the history of Switzerland, but it is not only that. The majestic project, Professor Viganò recalls, combines flood protection with elements aimed at make the river more natural: it's about improving the safety of citizens and businesses by restoring the river's ecological functions. In short, it's necessary to widen parts of the riverbed and redesign the floodplains.

As Viganò explains,

Many cities in Europe are exposed to heat stress. So every drop counts. Climate change will create even more extreme conditions. We must understand that the risks are growing.

Designing the cities and neighborhoods of the future does not only mean preparing them for the next flood: the territory, with all its different functions, must be able to become resilient and contribute itself to risk mitigation. Therefore, it is necessary to design cities that can act as large water collectors thanks to soil filtration and aquifer recharge: this is where the concept of “Sponge City”.

Using natural resources such as green spaces and permeable pavements To absorb excess rainwater, the professor explains, sponge cities can not only help mitigate flooding, but also improve the relationship between urban and natural environments.

“To address these challenges, we need to bring together many different types of people, from those working in transport to those working on biodiversity or sports activities,”

explains Viganò.

Environmental Justice and Water Democracy

But rivers can also be the engine of a more just society. Often, Viganò recalls, the risks that accumulate downstream of watercourses originate much further upstream:

"The most vulnerable populations are often found in the lower reaches of the river. This becomes a political issue of environmental justice."

Territorial solidarity between upstream and downstream areas is crucial to understanding how different parts of the valley can contribute to reducing flood risk. Water can lay the foundation for more egalitarian societies in another sense as well: learning to manage and protect a river basin means bringing together all stakeholders. actors with different interests (some want water for factories, some for fields, some for the domestic water network) and work to find shared solutions.

It is therefore essential that citizens remain socially connected to water:

"We must listen to water. Accepting its behavior and interdependencies can certainly help build more democratic societies."

concludes Viganò.

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