Yixin Cao

Interdisciplinary Research Center of Cities, Territories, Environment and Society, University of Tours, France

Supervisor: Prof. Dr Karl Matthias Wantzen

This research explores how a fragmented river management structure hinders comprehensive river revitalization and whether recent projects and new approaches applied in these regions (e.g. transdisciplinary approaches to river landscape conservation and the Sponge City program) can redefine people’s connection to rivers. Through the comprehensive analysis of several case studies, this research project aims to synthesize feasible approaches to improve Urban Human River Encounter Spaces (UHRES) in different urban settings and contribute to a co-management scheme. The UHRES approach, based on the principles of “River Culture”, conceptualizes social-ecological systems in human-river relations without promoting human domination.