Chapter 18 - Future considerations for managing urban rivers

Abstract

Urban river management is an emerging paradigm in most regions of the world. Much of the previous endeavors in this domain have been solely focused on pollution control. While this is unquestionably important, there has been burgeoning evidence that holistic urban river management requires a system approach that caters to multiple sectors and corresponding stakeholders. Only then will it be possible to achieve holistic and wholesome management of urban rivers that is not only able to address current challenges but also able to effectively respond to imminent threats and issues. The objective of the chapter is to highlight some emerging considerations for urban river management that cities across the world will need to address in the near future. These include floodplain protection in dense areas, naturalizing existing channelized rivers and concretized riverfronts, estimating a city’s environmental flow contribution to the river, linking valuation of river-related ecosystem services to river management, sustainable models for enhancing river-related economy, and addressing the impacts of climate change.