Societal Drivers of European Water Governance: A Comparison of Urban River Restoration Practices in France and Germany

The European water governance took a decisive turn with the formulation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which demands the restoration of all water bodies that did not achieve sufficient ecological status. Urban rivers are particularly impaired by human activities and their restorations are m...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Water (Basel) 2017-03, Vol.9 (3), p.206
Main Authors:	Zingraff-Hamed, Aude, Greulich, Sabine, Wantzen, Karl, Pauleit, Stephan
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Analysis Dam removal Ecological restoration Environmental policy Environmental studies human-nature-relationships Humanities and Social Sciences Laws, regulations and rules Legislation Management Morphology Norms Qualitative analysis Quality of life Restoration restoration targets riverine socio-ecosystems Rivers Statistical analysis urban ecology Urban watersheds Water Water Framework Directive Water governance Water management Water use
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	The European water governance took a decisive turn with the formulation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which demands the restoration of all water bodies that did not achieve sufficient ecological status. Urban rivers are particularly impaired by human activities and their restorations are motivated by multiple ecological and societal drivers, such as requirements of laws and legislation, and citizen needs for a better quality of life. In this study we investigated the relative influence of socio-political and socio-cultural drivers on urban river restorations by comparing projects of different policy contexts and cultural norms to cross-fertilize knowledge. A database of 75 projects in French and German major cities was compiled to apply (a) a comparative statistical analysis of main project features, i.e., motivation, goals, measures, morphological status, and project date; and (b) a qualitative textual analysis on project descriptions and titles. The results showed that despite a powerful European directive, urban river restoration projects still keep national specificities. The WFD drives with more intensity German, rather than French, urban river restoration. This study showed the limits of macro-level governance and the influence of micro-level governance driven by societal aspects such as nature perception and relationships between humans and rivers.
ISSN:	2073-4441 2073-4441