1 - The nexus between rivers and urban development in Southeast Asia

Historically most cities in Southeast Asia were oriented towards rivers and only with the rise of the motor car did they become oriented towards land routes. This paper tries to give an overview of different ways that rivers structured spatial urban patterns in Southeast Asia, between 1600 and 2020. It also raises the question if rivers still have a formative force on urban development, and if so in what way and under which conditions. Have rivers changed from being a force of production to a force of consumption, from transportation, trade and fisheries to leisure space and top-class residential areas? Or do rivers still play a role in economic production, for instance in the production of food, or as sink of industrial waste?