How should we manage urban river corridors?

Many cities have rivers running through them, and the interactions are complex and two-way. In general, the city has squeezed the river, altering its morphology and reducing its capacity to deliver ecosystem services, as well as adding excess runoff and diffuse pollution loads. River flooding damages the city in return. However, there are many potential benefits in both directions. By good management, the city and its people can gain aesthetic and recreational opportunities, increased land values and economic development in river corridors. These can justify and support investment in the river itself, enhancing the returns. However, creating good management structures is challenging due to the complexity of the issues and the fact that all the organisations involved have other interests which complete for their attention and resources. The priorities of organisations such as local government, environmental protection agencies, commercial enterprises and citizen groups are unlikely to coincide. We explore several management options, and conclude that partnership working is most likely to be successful because it requires organisations to pool their resources, powers and skills and negotiate compromises between the competing issues.