City, Country, River - Water Bodies as a Space for Local Recreation

For thousands of years, people have preferred to settle along rivers and streams. They are used as a source of drinking water and industrial purposes, for instance as a transportation route and as a source of energy. The soil along rivers is often very fertile and is therefore usually intensively farmed. After the industrialisation, the accessibility and experienceability of urban water bodies became more difficult due to waterway construction and residential development in the Aue (area along the river Fulda in Kassel), and the water bodies increasingly disappeared from the cityscape. The ecological condition of water bodies in urban areas is therefore often in a poor state.

In the semester project City - Country - River , four river systems in Germany will be examined comparatively and methods of participatory water development will be tested. Two heavily anthropogenic water bodies will be examined: the Fulda in Kassel - which is to be more strongly integrated into the cityscape in the future - and the Isar in Munich, where this process is well advanced, on a one-day excursion. In turn, the Diemel and Eder in rural areas, two water bodies with more natural structures, will be analysed as a reference. The individual work steps consist of

Phase I - Analysis of streams (group work).

After introductory research, app-supported mapping on site, a fish population survey and drone flights are used. Planned subject areas:

• Experiencing nature in streams (on and near the water)
• Ecological status of streams (biology, morphology)

Phase II - Assessment of streams: (group work)

• Derivation of deficits and potentials

Phase III - Concept: (individual work)

• Identification of deficits and potentials for the respective subject areas
• Development of site-specific concepts for improving the ecological quality and the opportunities for experiencing and using the streams

The results are to be prepared for publication on the project website. For this purpose, the individual work steps should be documented accordingly (photo/video).