Rivers, Cities and People

This book looks at recent initiatives for river restoration and riverfront development intended to contribute to making Asian cities resilient, inclusive and less polluted. It uses an interdisciplinary perspective to assert that insufficient consideration of social issues in the planning and management of urban riverscapes leads to social exclusion. Utilising diverse entry points and theoretical orientations, every chapter of the volume contributes to the exploration of the way urban river restoration is entwined with questions around urban citizenship, violation of international housing rights, poverty and vulnerability, livelihoods and the use of common property resources. It explores the social aspects of well-known cases and examples of river restoration projects from Asian megacities such as Lahore, Dhaka, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bangkok, Manila and secondary cities in India. While touching on the technical, ecological and recreational aspects of urban river restoration and riverfront development, the book focuses on social issues related to displacement, contestations around land and water, the right to adequate housing and the interconnected rights to livelihoods, health and food security.

Enriched with empirical evidence and theoretical underpinnings, this book will be useful for students, teachers and researchers of urban studies, urban geography, urban planning, urban ecology, sociology, community development and policy and governance. It will also provide valuable case material for practitioners in those disciplines.

Maartje van Eerd is Assistant Professor and Senior Specialist in Housing and Social Development, the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Banashree Banerjee is Senior Specialist in Housing and Urban Management, Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.