Book Review: Prominski et al. River.Space.Design. Planning Strategies, Methods and Projects for Urban Rivers, 3rd and Enlarged ed.; Birkhäuser: Basel, Switzerland, 2023; ISBN: 978-3035625240; eISBN: 978-3035625271

In every landscape design project, designers usually search for similar completed projects as precedents and inspiration [1,2,3]. However, due to the limited resources available to carry out a comprehensive search for applicable data, the results of this process remain somewhat fortuitous [4,5]. There are some books where the concept of the design guidelines is introduced on the assumption that the knowledge basis needed for systematic design-related search processes would be provided and, by doing so, would make the design process itself more efficient and produce better results. Some authors are taking research results and using further research to develop design guidelines as applicable knowledge for design practitioners. The guidelines themselves are not designs; they only serve as an ‘enzyme’ that designers may use in the design process for the purpose of gaining efficiency and a higher quality of work. These books act as an intermediate step between the mass of research evidence and its application in a complex situation.

One of the updated and recently published books, in this case, is River. Space. Design. Planning Strategies, Method s and Projects for Urban Rivers. This book is the result of a project under the supervision of Martin Prominski and Antje Stokman, in collaboration with a project team including Susanne Zeller, Daniel Stimberg, Hinnerk Voermanek, Katarina Bajc, and Nengshi Zheng. What has been lacking is an overview that presents a wide diversity of design possibilities for urban river spaces in a systematic and transferable way. This book aims to fill this gap and serve as a primer and reference for designers of urban river spaces. In this book, the extracted abstract design guidelines would facilitate multifunctional solutions for the many new urban river spaces which will have to be designed in the near future in Europe and beyond.

The book is divided into three large parts. The book begins with a fundamental description of the essentials for the high-quality design of urban river spaces and the various process typologies that shape rivers, their appearance, and their transformations. In this part, an understanding of the internal dynamic processes of rivers serves as the starting point for all sustainable interdisciplinary projects with a goal of contributing to the better integration of solutions for the many and various needs and challenges encountered in river restoration design. In the first part of this book, the authors try to present how the future design of water spaces is not to be met by one discipline alone; instead, it makes sense to observe and reflect upon the mutual conditionality of hydraulic, ecological, urban planning, and architectural landscape decisions.

These fundamentals lay the theoretical foundation for the second part of the book—a catalogue of systematically organized design strategies. The catalogue is divided into five different ‘Process Spaces’ in which the water processes in the defined spatial area of the river are variously shaped by design measures. The ‘Design Catalogue’ is the heart of this book—a collection that abstracts and identifies the ideas and design approaches from the projects that the authors examined and presents them in the form of design tools and measures that are transferable to future projects. Thus, it becomes easier for designers to discover appropriate measures for their specific contexts.

Design strategies describe an approach or an attitude that the designer adopts towards the water, for instance: to tolerate it, go with it, divert it, or do many other things. Each design strategy combines several practical design tools or measures that have all been influenced by this attitude. In Process Space A, for example, all the designs primarily address vertical fluctuations in the watercourse. One design strategy is to shape elements in such a way that they can be submerged when the water level rises without suffering damage. They are capable of ‘tolerating’ the rising water. Another strategy is to design elements to ‘adapt’ to rising water levels, as houseboats or floating jetties do. The spectrum of various design strategies makes it clear how many different ways are within each Process Space to deal with the respective water dynamics through design.

Design tools can range from the smallest of measures, such as individual seating areas by the riverside, to large-scale interventions, such as the construction of retention areas. Preference is given to the tools that respond creatively to the complex demands of urban water spaces and can serve as a source of inspiration for future projects. The principle of each design tool is presented with a sectional or plan drawing and illustrated with a photograph of a project example.

The third part of this book (Project Catalogue) presents 64 extremely diverse projects researched as examples of best practices from which the design tools were derived. These references are fully described with illustrations and plans, as well as the contexts in which they came into being. The projects are grouped under the five Process Spaces, then ordered alphabetically by the name of the river.

The interdisciplinary composition of the team of authors, comprising landscape architects and hydraulic engineers, made it possible to examine the projects selected for the book from various points of view. The selection of the projects took place as part of research that concentrated on Switzerland, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, North America, and Asia.

The spectrum ranges from small-scale interventions, such as enhancing a riverside promenade with a floating café or steps down to the water, to large projects, such as the revitalization of streams for several kilometers or the creation of several hectares of retention space to buffer cities against flood surges. What all the projects have in common is a multifunctional approach that addresses at least two of the three principal aims described in Part 1: flood protection, ecological enhancement, and amenity.

The book comes to end with the appendix, which contains an extensive specialist glossary and an overview of all projects, as well as additional project suggestions, design strategies, and tools.

The book has a clear and reasonable structure that makes it easy to use for the audience, professionals, students, and scholars. Providing about 660 colored images, in addition to providing an attractive appearance, has facilitated the understanding of the contents and design principles of river landscapes for the audience. The cross-reference of Chapters 2 and 3 has allowed the audience to start studying from any chapter and has facilitated the understanding of the design principles. In addition, it is an excellent model for researchers who are looking to write books on the principles of design in landscape architecture. This book indicates two advantages for landscape designers. First, it advances and speeds up reflective practice through preselected and recommended suggestions, comparable to ‘enzymes’, which act as catalyzers to accelerate the processes of riverside landscape design. Second, it allows landscape designers to apply these principles to any specific riverside design case where individual creativity is also mandatory.