About "River Cities as Method" River Cities as Method (RCM) is an initiative of the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden, in collaboration with interested partners. The initiative seeks to revitalize urban rivers and the ecological, social, cultural and economic (eco-)systems linked to these rivers. The outcomes are envisaged to be applied in nature—culminating in urban revitalization projects—as well as knowledge-based, leading to new epistemological and methodological insights about "transformational resilience" for urban and environmental theories and for university/school curricula.
RCM is envisaged as a working coalition and, ultimately, as a network with its secretariat at IIAS. RCM brings together multiple local project teams, each of which work on their own river-city case study. Joint activities and components include a peer-learning environment whereby project teams exchange experiences and lessons with each other, as well as joint workshops and outputs for further development of theory (publications, etc.), practice, and pedagogy.
RCM will comprise several case studies of "disrupted rivers" in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Latin America. "Disruption" is usually a consequence of both natural and human-induced activity. Project teams comprising local scholars, scientists, and activists will engage with a broad range of stakeholders in seeking to revitalize the stretches of river that they select as case studies. By addressing processes of disruption in their cases, each team will contribute insights about what "transformational" resilience means in their own contexts. Transformational resilience acknowledges that there are often longer-term, structural reasons for the disruption of rivers. Beyond technical solutions, these require a normative stance that enables an inclusive participatory approach to overcome destruction of river-city ecosystems and to identify new pathways that will benefit rivers and the plant, animal and human life that depends on these systems.
Each project team will make its own context-specific interpretations of concepts such as disruption, justice, transformation, and resilience. These interpretations will be shared and evaluated with other river city teams—thus helping to build an alliance of like-minded, concerned colleagues. This alliance seeks to be truly "global" in nature, with learning between and within the global North and global South.
RCM adopts a trans-disciplinary approach, bringing together knowledge of river ecosystems from the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences around three main project components, which strengthen each other: river bios (histories and stories of the river), spatial analysis (layer mapping of the river and its environs) and transformation (activism to achieve river revitalization, through networks of stakeholders). Inviting Expressions of Interest IIAS is inviting Expressions of Interest (EoI) from teams who wish to join the RCM working group and network. RCM welcomes applications from project teams from all over the world. Together with the newly recruited teams, the RCM coordinators and advisors will work on a funding proposal to help build the RCM network, and which will help to fund network's activities. In the meantime, the RCM project teams may start their work through a combination of own funds and (where available) limited other funding. The RCM project teams can also start forming collaborative working groups within the network for knowledge exchange and strategic initiatives for river revitalization, and/or to work in smaller groups should any possible local or regional funding opportunities appear.
The benefits of joining the RCM working group and network include access to a diverse and global network of professionals and scholars working on the river-city nexus; collaborative workshops and other activities to share insights on a peer-to-peer basis; and joint publications. The RCM partners will have considerable freedom to determine together the shape of the coalition and its common activities. Eligibility Requirements for Applicants Applications should be submitted by a Principal Investigator (scholar, scientist and/or activist), who represents a team. See the eligibility requirements for teams on our website: https://ukna.asia/events/join-rcm
Applications should be submitted via this online form. The deadline for submissions of EoI is 15 August 2022. Contact For questions about this Call or about RCM, please contact Paul Rabé, Coordinator of the IIAS Cities Cluster (p.e.rabe@iias.nl), or Satya Patchineelam, PI of the Xingu River pilot project (s.maia.patchineelam@iias.nl). | | | The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) is a global research organisation and knowledge exchange platform based in Leiden, The Netherlands. The Institute initiates and supports interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral programmes that engage and connect partners in Asia and the rest of the world. The Institute seeks to promote a more contextualised understanding of Asian realities today and pioneers new approaches to the study of Asia and the 'Asian factor' in a changing global environment. It does so through an array of activities in the realms of research, education, publications, dissemination, network development, institutional support, and services to the community inside and outside academia. IIAS | P.O. Box 9500 | 2300 RA | Leiden | www.iias.asia | Contact | | | | | |
