Fostering climate resilience by connecting people with water in urban spaces
21–22 September 2026 | Bar Beton, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
Cities with rivers are beginning to see their urban waters anew. Across the world, municipalities and communities are questioning decades of canalisation and turning toward daylighting, ecological restoration, and the re-imagining of river corridors as vibrant socio-ecological spaces. Through voluntary dialogues, collective action, and creative resurfacing practices, urban groups are rekindling relationships between people and their waterways.
Against this backdrop, CARDIMED, in collaboration with Utrecht University and its Pathways to Sustainability programme, is organising the international conference “Bringing Urban Rivers Back to Life”, to be held on 21–22 September 2026 at Bar Beton, Utrecht.
Urban rivers, long treated primarily as infrastructure, are re-emerging as arteries of imagination—spaces where ecological regeneration, cultural meaning, and urban transformation converge. In an era defined by climate change and biodiversity decline, cities are searching for regenerative spaces that can address environmental challenges while supporting recreation, public health, and social connection. At the same time, bottom-up initiatives and civic networks are championing swimmable urban rivers—and, with them, swimmable cities.
The conference will bring together researchers, practitioners, planners, policy makers, and artists to explore what it truly means to bring urban rivers back to life: to renature, regenerate, and daylight them; to rethink governance and planning; and to co-create a shared manifesto for the rights to urban rivers. Through diverse case studies and interdisciplinary dialogue, participants will expand collective understanding and imagination around the future of urban rivers.
Programme structure and call for seed sessions
The conference programme will feature plenary sessions alongside seed sessions—small, interactive workshops designed to explore emerging ideas, projects, and collaborative working groups.
A call for seed sessions is now open. Proposals should be submitted to the conference organising committee by 28 March 2026 and must include:
- An engaging session title
- A description of the seed session theme and aims
- A list of presenters (including affiliation and email)
- A short abstract per presentation (maximum 150 words)
Seed session proposals should be submitted using the official template and sent by email to:
e.meirawolff@uu.nl and pathwaystosustainability@uu.nl
Seed sessions are expected to align with one of the following thematic aims:
- Presenting and discussing Nature-based Solutions addressing urban river regeneration challenges (engineering and landscape planning)
- Examining how urban river regeneration and renaturing are planned, governed, and managed, including opportunities and tensions (planning and governance)
- Debating spatial transformations, politics of space, and how Rights to and for Nature can play out in urban river regeneration processes (politics and justice)
Key dates
- 28 March 2026 – Deadline for seed session submissions
- 20 April 2026 – Notification of accepted seed sessions
- 20 May – 20 June 2026 – Seed session chairs meet with conference curators and organising committee to finalise the programme
The conference will take place at Bar Beton, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Further information on registration and attendance will be published soon on the website.
English, British