Abstract:
Chennai was on the global news for reaching its water thresholds. The crisis in Chennai has been a wakeup call for not only the citizens of Chennai, but to the entire world. Urban coastal river systems are subjected the pressure of the growing city as well as climate change. But is it fair to blame climate change when the anthropogenic reasons for the disasters haven’t been addressed. The landscape of a city and the characteristics of the river edges undergo a parallel natural and human-induced phenomena. In such a case, the thin line of caution is often breached causing catastrophic impacts. Such is the case of the River Cooum, which flows through the dense central parts of the city. Studies shows that the river's ecosystem has been compromised due to several anthropogenic activities and years of neglect. Urban river edges are a repository of natural processes and cultural lineages. In the case of Chennai, the historical value is immense and edifices from the colonial times still find its place in this river landscape. The open spaces have evolved in their typologies from the colonial period and the ever changing needs has a dynamic character to it. There is a need for establishing a ‘synergistic’ connect with the river ecosystem, places of historical value and the edges can be seen as an interstitial traversing through this dynamic character
