Author(s): Pierre Bourqui; Marina Launay; Marco Rampini; Yves Bach; Francois Gerber; Kim Ehrensperger

Linked Author(s): Marina Launay

Keywords: Urban river renaturation; Climate adaptation; Biodiversity corridors; Multifunctional infrastructure; Interdisciplinary collaboration

Abstract: The PAV Aire-Drize project represents the latest evolution in Geneva's 25-year waterway renaturation programme, addressing the challenge of integrating functional river systems into dense metropolitan development. Over 20 years, 2.5 kilometers of the buried Drize and Aire rivers will be brought to the surface to form the structural spine of nine new neighborhoods. Unlike earlier projects such as the award-winning upper Aire renaturation in a rural valley context, the Drize confronts severe urban constraints requiring innovative ecohydraulic solutions that balance flood conveyance, stormwater management, habitat creation, and climate adaptation within narrow corridors bounded by underground infrastructure. The design integrates multi-stage hydraulic configurations, controlled morphological processes, and multifunctional public spaces providing urban cooling, biodiversity connectivity, and social programming. This interdisciplinary collaboration between hydraulic engineers, landscape architects, ecologists, geo- and hydrogeologists, and urban planners exemplifies Geneva's sustained political commitment to visionary approaches, demonstrating that contemporary urban renaturation must design novel ecosystems capable of delivering multiple services under extreme anthropogenic pressures rather than restoring historical conditions. The first 450-meter phase inaugurated in November 2025 establishes design principles and monitoring frameworks informing subsequent stages, generating transferable knowledge for urban river projects globally while testing whether ambitious ecological integration can be sustained through decades of metropolitan transformation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64697/iahr.proc.ise2026.abs.322

Year: 2026