How can we redesign flood-prone areas as dynamic, inclusive, and environmentally friendly landscapes for a livable tomorrow?

Unlike modern hydraulic engineering, which responds to rising water levels with dams, this book proposes rethinking the design of flood-prone areas. An analysis of Europe's most innovative such projects – Dutch polders, Alpine valleys, the Isar basin, and the Rhine and Meuse estuaries – highlights the major issues : making peace with a river's natural cycle, accepting overflow to reduce flooding, integrating floods into urban development. Part cultural history, part geography, part urban study, this book envisions new flood-prone territories as paradigms of tomorrow's inhabitable landscapes.