Reading of river landscapes by a historian: compared valorization of running water in land development in France and in Japan - thoughts on urban aquosity

Abstract

Today, the scientific knowledge of French water streams is still poor, especially in the way history is taken into account. The historian brings, by his science, an essential look at the landscape of water streams. Rivers are organically related to the country history; centuries have left their print, a print that the historian knows how to read and link to the habits and practices of the various societies which followed one another. The understanding of maps and registers, the search for old documents allow the historian to reconstitute the river historical socio-system and to help the landscape specialist in an essential way. By comparing characteristics of water stream arrangements in France and in Japan, this document offers a meaningful exercise which provides to the landscape specialist a good understanding of the landscape layout logics and reminds him of the symbolic and sacred meaning of running waters. The historian also brings cultural elements likely to favour a mixing of the various practices, and therefore helps enrich the landscape specialist's possibilities; similarly, the historian can, by downplaying the development models and the management modes, which have been transmitted to us, help the expert transcend history to go towards really innovating creations.