This is a US-Russian workshop on interdisciplinary and international perspectives of cities and rivers. The workshop will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia and will focus on the intellectual and practical challenges faced in the Neva Basin. The organizers of the workshop are Dr. Robert Frodeman from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Dr. Nikolai Rolley from St. Petersburg State Technical University.
This workshop will focus on four themes that will allow for dialogue between different disciplines and international partners about how multiple perspectives can be brought to bear on the problems posed by urban rivers. The four themes are 1) geographies of common interest: shared commitments uniting disciplinary perspectives; 2) controlling the river: hydrology, politics, engineering, and architecture; 3) the river as "Nature in the City": the link between ecology and aesthetics; and 4) reclaiming the river: uniting perspectives for ecological restoration.
This interdisciplinary workshop in environmental biology and social sciences fulfills the program objectives of bringing together leading experts in the U.S. and Central/Eastern Europe to combine complementary efforts and capabilities in areas of strong mutual interest and competence on the basis of equality, reciprocity, and mutuality of benefit.