Between Land and Water

This book addresses the growing urgency of multi-risk urbanism in an era defined by environmental fragility and social vulnerability. The book begins from the recognition that cities located along rivers, deltas, lagoons, and coasts are increasingly shaped by overlapping pressures—geological, hydrological, environmental, and human— that accumulate into complex and interconnected risks. These are not single hazards to be solved in isolation, but multi-risk conditions that challenge conventional planning models and stretch the limits of existing urban theories. At the heart of the book lies the question of how multi-risk can be understood, mapped, and responded to. This concern resonates strongly with the aims of the MIRACLE project, which likewise seeks to explore and develop new frameworks for engaging with urban risk in dynamic and uncertain environments. Rather than treating risk as an external force to be managed or controlled, Between Land and Water considers risk as a constitutive element of the urban condition, one that must be integrated into design, governance, and everyday life. To ground this exploration, the book focuses on the land–water threshold, a space where multi-risk conditions are most visible and acute. This threshold is not a rigid boundary between solid ground and open water, but a porous and shifting interface where flows of people, ecologies, infrastructures, and cultures converge. It is precisely here, in these in-between zones, that risks accumulate and, simultaneously, new opportunities for adaptation and transformation emerge. What if risk were not just a threat to be contained, but a force that could reshape how we imagine and build our cities? Between Land and Water takes readers to the shifting edges of rivers, deltas, lagoons, and coasts—places where multiple risks converge and futures are contested. Here, vulnerability and opportunity collide: floods and storms unsettle familiar boundaries, yet also open possibilities for new forms of living, designing, and governing. Challenging conventional planning models, this book treats risk as part of the urban condition itself—cultural as much as ecological, political as much as environmental. Through critical mapping, stories of water, and speculative design, it uncovers how unstable thresholds can inspire more just, adaptive, and resilient futures. Bold and imaginative, Between Land and Water offers fresh insights for anyone seeking to move beyond technical fixes and embrace uncertainty as a resource for transformation.