Rivers Lost, Rivers Regained: Rethinking City-River Relations (Pittsburgh Hist Urban Environ)

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. 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-- 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-- Introduction / Martin Knoll, Uwe Lubken, And Dieter Schott -- Part I. Rivers Controlled : Cities And Their Watersheds -- Rivers, Industrial Cities, And Hinterland Production In Quebec In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries / Stephane Castonguay -- The Seine As A Parisian River : Its Imprint, Its Ascendancy And Its Mutual Dependencies In The Eighteenth Through The Twentieth Century / Sabine Barles -- Watershed Democracy Or Ecological Hinterland? : London And The Thames River Basin, 1857-1989 / Vanessa Taylor -- Part Ii. Urban Rivers Transformed And Lost -- The City Whose Rivers Disappeared : Nantes, 1850-1950 / Genevieve Massard-guilbaud -- The New Cuyahoga : Straightening Cleveland's Crooked River / David Stradling -- A Slum River : The Unequal Urbanization Of Bogota (colombia) And The Transformation Of The Tunjuelo River In The Twentieth Century / Vladimir Sanchez-calderon -- Urbanizing A River In A Bicultural Border Region : Strasbourg And The Upper Rhine On The Way To Water Modernity, 1789-1925 / Christoph Bernhardt -- Path Dependencies Managing The River Elbe And The Requirements Of Hamburg's Open Tidal Seaport / Dirk Schubert -- Part Iii. Cultural Dimensions Of Urban Rivers -- Rivers As Prisms Of Urban Imagining : Eastern Sichuan Work Songs / Igor Chabrowski -- The Ganges As An Urban Sink : Urban Waste And River Flow In Colonial India In The Nineteenth Century / Awadhendra Sharan -- Polluted Thames, Declining City : London As An Ecosystem In Charles Dickens's Our Mutual Friend / Agnes Kneitz -- Living On The River Over The Year : The Significance Of The Neva To Imperial Saint Petersburg / Alexei V. Kraikovski And Julia Lajus -- Part Iv. Rivers Regained -- A Ridiculous Failure Of Government : The Chicago River In The Age Of Ecology / Harold L. Platt -- Shared Waters, Shared Conceptions? : Two Rhine Cities On The Long And Winding Road To Urban Sustainability / Michael Toyka-seid -- Revitalization Of A Tamed River : The Isar In Munich / Nico Döring And Georg Jochum -- Union Is A Raging River, Or, Remembering Fez As The River Remembers / Shelley Hornstein. Edited By Martin Knoll, Uwe Lübken, And Dieter Schott. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction / Martin Knoll, Uwe Lübken, and Dieter Schott 14 Part I. Rivers Controlled: Cities and Their Watersheds 34 Chapter 1. Rivers, Industrial Cities, and Hinterland Production in Quebec in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries / Stéphane Castonguay 36 Chapter 2. The Seine as a Parisian River: Its Imprint, Its Ascendancy, and Its Mutual Dependencies in the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Century / Sabine Barles 57 Chapter 3. Watershed Democracy or Ecological Hinterland? London and the Thames River Basin, 1857–1989 / Vanessa Taylor 74 Part II. Urban Rivers Transformed and Lost 94 Chapter 4. The City Whose Rivers Disappeared: Nantes, 1850–1950 / Geneviève Massard-Guilbaud 96 Chapter 5. The New Cuyahoga: Straightening Cleveland’s Crooked River / David Stradling 118 Chapter 6. A “Slum River”: The Unequal Urbanization of Bogotá (Colombia) and the Transformation of the Tunjuelo River in the Twentieth Century / Vladimir Sánchez-Calderón 134 Chapter 7. Urbanizing a River in a Bicultural Border Region: Strasbourg and the Upper Rhine on the Way to Water Modernity, 1789–1925 / Christoph Bernhardt 151 Chapter 8. Path Dependencies Managing the River Elbe and the Requirements of Hamburg’s Open Tidal Seaport / Dirk Schubert 167 Part III. Cultural Dimensions of Urban Rivers 186 Chapter 9. Rivers as Prisms of Urban Imagining: Eastern Sichuan Work Songs / Igor Iwo Chabrowski 188 Chapter 10. The Ganges as an Urban Sink: Urban Waste and River Flow in Colonial India in the Nineteenth Century / Awadhendra Sharan 211 Chapter 11. Polluted Thames, Declining City: London as an Ecosystem in Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend / Agnes Kneitz 227 Chapter 12. Living on the River over the Year: The Significance of the Neva to Imperial Saint Petersburg / Alexei Kraikovski and Julia Lajus 246 Part IV. Rivers Regained 264 Chapter 13. “A Ridiculous Failure of Government”: The Chicago River in the Age of Ecology / Harold L. Platt 266 Chapter 14. Shared Waters, Shared Conceptions? Two Cities on the River Rhine on the Long and Winding Road to Urban Sustainability / Michael Toyka-Seid 284 Chapter 15. Revitalization of a Tamed River: The Isar in Munich / Nico Döring and Georg Jochum 299 Chapter 16. Union Is a Raging River, or Remembering Fez as the River Remembers / Shelley Hornstein 323 Notes 342 List of Contributors 414 Index 418

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.