Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained by Martin Knoll

Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained by Martin Knoll

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.

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

* Choice *

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 *

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 *

A good read for environmental planners and urban historians.

* Journal of Urban Technology *

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.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780822944591
ISBN 10	0822944596
Title	Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained
Author	Martin Knoll
Series	History Of The Urban Environment
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	University of Pittsburgh Press
Year published	2017-01-23
Number of pages	368
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.