CARDIMED Conference 2026: Bringing Urban Rivers Back to Life

Fostering climate resilience by connecting people with water in urban spaces
22–23 September 2026 | Bar Beton, Utrecht (The Netherlands)

Cities with rivers are beginning to see their urban waters anew. Across the world, municipalities and communities are questioning decades of canalisation and turning toward daylighting, ecological restoration, and the re-imagining of river corridors as vibrant socio-ecological spaces. Through voluntary dialogues, collective action, and creative resurfacing practices, urban groups are rekindling relationships between people and their waterways.

Against this backdrop, CARDIMED, in collaboration with Utrecht University and its Pathways to Sustainability programme, is organising the international conference “Bringing Urban Rivers Back to Life”, to be held on 22–23 September 2026 at Bar Beton, Utrecht.

Urban rivers, long treated primarily as infrastructure, are re-emerging as arteries of imagination—spaces where ecological regeneration, cultural meaning, and urban transformation converge. In an era defined by climate change and biodiversity decline, cities are searching for regenerative spaces that can address environmental challenges while supporting recreation, public health, and social connection. At the same time, bottom-up initiatives and civic networks are championing swimmable urban rivers—and, with them, swimmable cities.

The conference will bring together researchers, practitioners, planners, policy makers, and artists to explore what it truly means to bring urban rivers back to life: to renature, regenerate, and daylight them; to rethink governance and planning; and to co-create a shared manifesto for the rights to urban rivers. Through diverse case studies and interdisciplinary dialogue, participants will expand collective understanding and imagination around the future of urban rivers.

Entrance fee

Registration is free, but we kindly request that you only register if you are willing and able to attend the conference. Participants who register and are absent might be asked to pay a fee to cover catering and logistics costs due to food waste.

Unfortunately, joining online is not possible. Participation in person only. REGISTER NOW