Cities and river environments – a versatile relationship. Conflicts between local, national and transnational patterns of Governance in East Central Europe and beyond - Annual Conference of the Leibniz Graduate School “History, Knowledge, Media in East Central Europe”

Taking the manifold entanglements between large cities and their river environments as examples, the conference seeks to explore the conflicts between local, national and transnational patterns of governance. The 19th and 20th centuries saw an increasing impact of cities upon rivers in terms of more efficient use of water flows and increasing regulation and pollution. At the same time, rivers highlighted the limits to these regulations, particularly through floods and desiccation, polluted drinking water, etc. Local, national and transnational attempts of governance were instituted in order to manage these problems. Thus far, the history of rivers has mainly been written either as a history of modernization and increasing efficiency, or as a history of destruction and deformation. The conference aims to overcome these contrasting perspectives by historicizing conflicting attempts and scales at managing environmental issues of cities and rivers, i.e., cities on the banks of rivers. At the same time, the conference tries to strengthen the links between urban history and river (environmental) history. Interested participants are welcome. Admission to the conference is free of charge. Please register until 12 November 2014 at the executive director of the Leibniz Graduate School, Ina Alber via e-mail: ina.alber@herder-institut.de Please find the program attached or on www.herder-institut.de