URBAN RIVERS: CITIZENS AS TRANSFORMING AGENTS OF THIS ENVIRONMENT

Contextualization

With the development process, especially in cities, rivers have been or are being hidden in infrastructure projects and thus forgotten by societies. This situation has brought many disturbances to society itself and to the functioning of cities. The session discussed this relationship between rivers and cities. We must stop conflicting with water and realize the need to reverse this process of planning and occupation, seeking the recovery of water in cities. Change involves “asking or understanding what water wants, what is the best way forward” in a reconciliation of society with water, especially in urban areas. In addition to recovery, it is necessary to change the way we are planning and structuring the expansion of cities, in order to prevent degradation and maintain what has already been recovered: it is necessary to recreate the spaces of the rivers.

Recommendations

It is recommended to review the planning and occupation processes, seeking the recovery of waters; the reconciliation of society with the waters, especially in the urban areas where they are hidden, to rediscover the rivers; take a holistic view of the problem, including issues related to culture, arts, traditional populations and other necessary issues; that occupation does not degrade potential sources of supply, harming the supply capacity of the cities themselves; that water should be the guiding thread for planning the expansion of the areas, as well as for the recovery of the areas already occupied; and recovery may consider the flow from the source to the main bed..

Conclusions

It must be recognized that rivers have rights, their spaces need to be respected, which is the responsibility of the population. If rivers are thought of in all their functions, adding visions of hydraulics, uses, environmental and social, it will respond positively to the interventions made. We already have the necessary knowledge, we need to act, based on the correct guidelines with recovery: from the source to the main bed. Urban water governance cannot work without citizen participation. Thus, we must work on the articulation, training and involvement of society in the processes, from ordinary citizens to representatives of the government, with water as the basis of development processes.