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3.3.1        Key impacts of physical modifications

On top of increasing demand for water and increased water pollution, rapid urbanisation and industrial growth have introduced additional types of stress to urban rivers, in the form of modifications to their morphology and hydrology.

In the last 150 years, riverside areas have been subject to structural changes such as channelization and straightening. These have taken space away from the river to serve flood protection and the creation of living space for growing towns. As a consequence they led to the deterioration of water quality and loss of recreation and amenity uses.

In many towns and cities, rivers and streams have been covered with concrete and rerouted into sewers, drains and culverts as urban areas have grown. In some European capitals, several man-made canals were added to the river network, for example in Berlin whose landscape is shaped by several important canals (Teltow, Landwehr, Berlin-Spandau shipping canal, and Hohenzollern canal).

Due to physical modifications, urban river spaces suffer from a lack of several functions, as illustrated in the table below.