Riverine landscapes and resilience

Rivers are excellent landscapes in which to explore concepts of resilience. Traditionally, river science is a systems-focussed discipline examining the dynamics of biophysical structures and processes, at multiple scales. There are overlaps between river science and resilience. Many of the core concepts of river science are like those of resilience. Increasingly, riverine landscapes are acknowledged as coupled natural–human systems, with strong intrinsic links between biophysical and human processes and functions. Resilience applied to natural systems is relatively straight forward, but putting people into riverine landscapes adds further complexity and uncertainty. Applying concepts of resilience, as an area of scientific inquiry, contributes new understandings of the dynamics of riverine landscapes as coupled natural–human systems. The significance of which has become increasingly relevant within the Anthropocene. Navigating environmental and societal challenges in this new geological era questions disciplinary views because a deeper understanding of the nature and implications of the dynamic coupling that link natural and human systems is required. In this chapter, riverine landscapes are explored through a lens of complex adaptive systems and some concepts of resilience are applied to advance the study and management of riverine landscapes.