The River Cities Network Celebrates Its First Anniversary
Almost one year after the inauguration of the River Cities Network (RCN) in December 2022, RCN partners gathered face-to-face in Bangkok from 25-27 November 2023 for an internal roundtable discussion focused on network matters and an external workshop focused on the changing situation of waterways in Bangkok. Forty-two RCN team members and advisors participated in the internal roundtable meeting, representing RCN project teams in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, China, Taiwan, India, Iran, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, and Italy. For the external workshop, the RCN participants were joined by an audience of Thai activists, students, and scholars. On the program were presentations on the Bangkok water management context by Dr. Thongchai Roachanakanan, former Head of the Climate Change and Natural Disaster Management Center of the Town and Country Planning Department in Thailand, as well as a presentation on canal-side settlements by Dr. Boonanan Natakun, the Bangkok RCN partner from the Urban Futures Policy Unit at Thammasat University. On the second day of the external workshop, all participants travelled to the riverside community of Bang Kachao for a day of fieldwork. See the accompanying story in this spread. The workshop was expertly hosted by a team of local activists and researchers from Thammasat University, Mahidol University, and Rajamangala University of Technology (Thanyaburi). The organizing team was headed by Dr. Kittima Leeruttanawisut, an urbanist and steering committee member of the Sustainable Mekong Research Network.
RCN achievements during the first year
During the internal roundtable the RCN partners took stock of achievements in the first year and discussed next steps in the development and organization of the network.
The highlights of the first year of the network included a hybrid theory-building workshop in September 2023, in collaboration with the Lorentz Center in Leiden, entitled Revitalizing River Cities: Connecting Biodiversity and Justice [Fig. 2]. The workshop brought together RCN partners, advisors, and external experts from the biosciences, social sciences, and humanities to discuss theoretical frameworks and practical tools to bring together the two pillars of RCN – i.e., transformational resilience ('justice') and biodiversity restoration, specifically in the context of urban rivers and waterways. The workshop was guided by two main questions: First, how can perspectives from biosciences and social science/humanities intersect in the context of urban rivers and waterways? Second, what tools and methods are essential in a mixed approach that combines a focus on biodiversity and justice to achieve the revitalization of these waterbodies? The workshop yielded insights on both questions that will be piloted in upcoming RCN activities.