ABSTRACT

The ‘waterfront’ here is regarded as a frontier of research as well as junction of land and water. The chapter explores the rise of water as a scholarly topic, in recent books on rivers by Peter Coates and urban waterways Matthew Gandy, and an older book on the hydro-culture of Venice and its region by Denis Cosgrove. It goes on to address a major river of England with a low cultural profile, the River Trent, and discusses recent works to raise its artistic and public register as a valley landscape.