Magic and loss. Notes on an international design workshop dedicated to the waterfront of Kolkata

Designing water spaces and their margins is a very critical operation, especially in a megalopolis like Kolkata, one of the ten most populous cities in the world, with great previsions of demographic growth in the coming years (15.5 million in 2010, 18.5 million in 2020). In Europe, in recent years water has been attracting growing consideration from the planning standpoint. For several decades waterfronts were abandoned, used to locate industrial facilities, sometimes blocked by highways, closed off by walls, used for storage places, and warehouses. Post-industrial cities are evidently turning the face towards their rivers by creating new waterfronts with pleasant environments for leisure and work, places for bars and restaurants, urban beaches and sports clubs, promenades along the river, new landscapes, including the restoration of riparian vegetation. All activities are part of a developing process and aimed at improving the overall quality of urban life. Is it conceivable to renew the relationship between the city of Kolkata and the Hooghly River, which will necessarily be enhanced in the coming years, without destroying its special feeling of place?