“We observe a form of reconnection of cities to their river”

L‘summer “of all extremes” – according to the expression of Météo France in its climate report for the summer period 2022 – has been widely commented on. Episodes of high heat coupled with very low rainfall resulted in particularly low water levels in Europe. More dramatic, the torrential rains in Pakistan after an episode of drought generated terrible floods rivers of a large part of the territory.

In Europe, the deadly overflow of the Meuse, in July 2021, in Belgium and Germany, in particular in the province of Liège, also shed harsh light on the resurgence of these extreme events and on the vulnerability of urban spaces. In the relationship between cities their river, taking these phenomena into account still seems limited.

However, this relationship has evolved considerably in recent times. If most cities were born from their rivers, this original link had been cut in a logic of separation of spaces urban areas and riverbanks, gradually intended for industrial functions, then for those of road traffic transforming these banks on highways and parking lots. For the past thirty years, in most of these towns, a dual agenda for the requalification of industrial wastelands, on the one hand, and road networks, on the other, has resulted in a form of reconnection of cities to their river.

Policy fragmentation

big projects developed on former industrial spaces participate in the redevelopment of the city on herself. The requalification of the banks designed by town planners and landscapers offers public spaces and new continuities to users. These developments are the subject of numerous debates, both in the type of spaces produced and in the choice of a requalification constraining automobile mobility. Often lively debates, the fact remains that this renewal of centers along the banks marks an important moment in urban planning of the cities river.

Commercial spaces, offices, beautification, public spaces, heritage…, many issues support this requalification. The question ecological is not central in the consideration of this relationship to the river by public policies. These are mainly developed at the level of municipalities and intermunicipalities and therefore treat this relationship to the watercourse in a fragmented way. Beyond the obvious quality of certain projects or new public spaces proposed, this fragmentation of urban policies partly prohibits a collective reading of the river as an essential element of the ecological transition.

Ecosystem to defend

This observation, made across the Paris region in a manifesto by the association La Seine n’est pas à vente, invites us to point out this ecological interest and to consider the river as an ecosystem to be defended, a reservoir of biodiversity, a framework of freshness, ventilation corridor and more generally great landscape. It also invites reflection on collaborative territorial approaches (elected officials, technicians, citizens, associations, economic actors, researchers) capable of defending this interest at the scale of the river basin.

The approach of Loire parliament initiated by the Polau-pôle arts & urbanisme – cycle of public hearings between arts, sciences and natural law aimed at defining the forms of a parliament “ for a non-human entity where the fauna, flora, and the various material and immaterial components would be represented » – is a stimulating recent example. It perhaps traces a new way of recognizing watercourses as a legal personality based on the construction of a community capable of implementing new ways of developing.

Ecological transition is at the heart of foresight exercises. Objectives for 2030 and 2050 are set (climate, energy, food, circular economy) in urban plans. They are ambitious – in the same way as the European and national objectives – but for the moment out of reach because they involve a transition of the economic apparatus itself. The river can be an important element of this transition both in terms of mobility (river logistics) and in the development of the economic activities necessary for this transition (recycling, waste, renewable energies).

Recent political initiatives tend to emerge to discuss these issues, still weakly, no doubt, with regard to the imperative of transition. This articulation of the different ecological, economic and recreational functions requires an evolution of the model of occupation of the banks towards more mix of uses and therefore towards a new collective and inter-territorial reading of the river.