VIRTUAL Barcelona Livable Cities

Abstract

From heavy currents displacing communities to scarce water cycles centering deprivation, climatic discourse frames rivers as crises, asserting violence and devastation for floodplain inhabitants. Architectural and urban design proposals addressing these catastrophes through the lens of climate change often focus on uncertainty—predicting river behaviors to curb undesirable movements—yet frequently overlook the lived perspectives of those inhabiting riverbanks. The River Ravi in Punjab, Pakistan, exemplifies this scenario. Its edge, or Kinara (Urdu), is a liminal space between land and water, represented in maps as a line but weaponized as a boundary. Under the world’s largest riverfront development proposal, this edge has become a site of marginalization, threatening underprivileged communities with displacement while the river itself faces depleted, polluted flows. Through years of dialogue with the riverine communities and stakeholders, this research captures a form of cultural production often excluded from urban development discourse. Oral narratives reveal reciprocal relationships forged with the river, offering an alternate imaginary of the edge—one rooted in resistance and everyday inhabitation. These stories shed light on how communities navigate threats posed by urban capital-centered projects, revealing possibilities beyond extractive paradigms. This research challenges conventional renderings of the river’s edge, expanding it through alternative representations that center the voices and experiences of those tied to this geography. By doing so, it critiques current practices of inequitable designs for climate impacts, proposing climate futures acknowledging, and uplifting marginalized communities rather than dispossessing them of their land, river, and city.