Abstract

This study analyses how river restoration-rehabilitation concepts can be transferred from natural settings to constructed environments and thus form part of an urban design strategy. In contrast to conventional civil engineering, this strategy explores how hydraulic challenges can be tackled through instead of against nature. The study focuses on urban rivers in Chile where unstable geographical and environmental conditions in combination with limited budgets require innovative solutions. The methodology uses research by design. From an environmental viewpoint, river restoration know-how is shifted from a restoring tool to a spatial analysis tool focused on understanding natural spatial processes. The outcome of this study is a cartography that maps the dynamic interplay between the natural water system and the city of Concepcion’s environmental conditions on the one hand and the relationship between the river landscape and urban development on the other.