Rivers, canals and harbors: a resource for cities
(This bleak image of a woman washing her clothes in a polluted river in China with a pile of garbage in the background was found at : http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=391&catid=10&subcatid=66 This site is also an interesting one on the state of rivers in China.) In a recent entry of The Urban Flâneur Guidebook , I featured some intriguing photographs by Hamish Stewart, the blog author of Le flâneur: the random urban photographe r, of the Regents Canal in London. His photographs portrayed how a canal or any water body can be a delight to urban residents. However, many waters bodies in urban areas are not places of beauty, but often resemble a vision of hell, as seen in the picture above. In the Industrial Era, lakes, rivers, bays and canals were perceived not for their intrinsic natural value, but for their economic use and waste disposal. In this present transition era, this situation can be found in numerous cities around the world...