Antonella Radicchi

Figure above: Sunset at the Spree, Berlin. Copyright: Ansgar Koreng. Image source: Wikipedia

DESCRIPTION

Against the contemporary disciplinary debate on the creation of river baths as a means of regaining rivers for public life and improving environmental quality, this article presents the treatment of the Spree River in Berlin, by analysing three projects: the Spreeweg, the Flussbad Berlin and the Spree2011/WITE. To develop the research, which feeds this article, mixed methods were applied, such as historical sources consultation, literature and planning documents review, interviews and empirical research. The analysis of the three projects showed potentialities for addressing ecological, hydrological, engineering and environmental issues, in light of sustainable development. However, it remains unclear what forms and at what scale these possibilities will be implemented in practice in Berlin.

This article, written in Italian, is open access and published in the Scientific Journal EcoWebTown. Journal of Sustainable Design, no. 21.

YEAR

2020

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Felix Bentlin for sharing historical writings and information on the development of water infrastructure in the context of the Hobrecht Plan (private email correspondence); Christian Hajer for the information on urban development in Berlin and the Spree River (telephone interview); Ralf Steeg for the documentation and information provided in relation to the Spree2011 project and the WITE system (private email correspondence); Sabine Kopetzki and Uwe Borgenhagen for providing materials and maps of the Spreeweg and the Berlin’s Twenty Green Walks Plan (private email correspondence); Dietrich Henckel for valuable comments on the text; Rosario Pavia for the kind invitation to write this article.