Environmental, Social and Economic Enablers and Constraints for the Revitalisation of Urban Waterways: The Case of Padova (Italy)

The recovery and revitalisation of historical urban watercourses is an emerging trend in post-industrial societies across the world, which frequently represents a challenge due to the complexity of these socio-ecological systems and the transdisciplinarity of the issue spanning the cultural, social, economic and environmental spheres. This work proposes a theoretical framework to understand the reasons behind the neglect and abandonment of many urban waterways, which can be seen as the result of the vicious circles of interactions which link waterway use, maintenance and investments, environmental and infrastructural quality, and cultural attachment. Understanding these interactions may provide practical insights to identify successful strategies for revitalisation. Also, a key role in urban watercourses is played by the ‘edge of the water’, that is the transition space between cities and water, which should be given particular care to better connect people to watercourses. Building on this theoretical framework, the chapter makes an interdisciplinary attempt to identify the enablers and constraints to the revitalisation of the ancient urban canals of the city of Padova in north-eastern Italy. The chapter starts by illustrating the long history of these canals and their metamorphosis from a lively socio-economic infrastructure, part of the cultural identity of what used to be a water city, to a neglected and abandoned space, until the recent bottom-up efforts of revitalisation mainly arising from local activism and the demand for blue-green spaces for recreational purposes. The emerging limits and constraints to the sustainable recovery of Padova’s urban canals include the public institutional management framework, which is traditionally top-down, sectorial and fragmented, the (real or perceived) lack of use for the canals, including as an infrastructure linked to the economy, and poor environmental quality, both in practice and in people’s perceptions. Watercourse regeneration enablers in Padova include a fuller integration of watercourses into the urban structure, ranging from the improvement of physical access to the water and the enhancement of canal visibility to better urban planning, as well as the promotion of participatory, bottom-up, and small-scale but well-targeted actions contributing to the canal revitalisation, for example through water quality improvement, and use. By acting upon these constraints and enablers with the strategic contribution of local citizens and stakeholders, it seems possible to transform Padova’s blue-green spaces into urban magnets attracting daily activities, making the city’s historical aquatic heritage living again while embracing sustainable and resilient urban development