Method and Practice for Integrated Water Landscapes Management: River Contracts for Resilient Territories and Communities Facing Climate Change

settingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Method and Practice for Integrated Water Landscapes Management: River Contracts for Resilient Territories and Communities Facing Climate Change by Francesca RossiORCID Department of Planning, Design, Technology of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome, 00196 Rome, Italy Urban Sci. 2022, 6(4), 83; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci6040083 Received: 14 August 2022 / Revised: 6 November 2022 / Accepted: 11 November 2022 / Published: 16 November 2022 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Proof Territories. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Urban Resilience) Download Browse Figure Review Reports Versions Notes Abstract The negative impacts of climate change on natural and anthropic ecosystems have led to the increasingly urgent search for policies, strategies and tools able to counteract degradation and risk factors on vulnerable landscapes. Among these, the research activity refers to water landscapes as a specific field of study that represents a fundamental resource for human well-being. In consistency with the international policy framework on integrated water management, this contribution develops a case study analysis focused on River Contracts as innovative, voluntary and negotiated planning practices aimed at the reconstruction of territorial, social and ecological values, which broaden the boundaries of safeguarding by integrating protection actions with sustainable management and environmental regeneration and to restore the identity of places and local communities. The description and evaluation of an ongoing experience of River, Coast and Landscape Contracts, developed along the coast of the Lazio region, allows one to point out that the process method is successful in solving complex issues related to the management of the river basin while involving social actors in order to improve people’s knowledge of the territory, increase social awareness of risk conditions, and allow local communities to propose and implement shared solutions. The results of this territorial and multi-level governance method are therefore measured on their capacity to produce territorial, social and environmental resilience.