This research is an exploration of the local, place-based knowledge surrounding a degraded urban river, the Lower Neponset River and Estuary in southern Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, and its environmental restoration. Through a mixed-methods approach to sociological inquiry that included 18-months of ethnographic interviews and participant observations, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, archival document research, and critical environmental history, it explores the different ways local citizens interpret the river as a place of historical importance, personal nostalgia, social and family networks, neighborhood legacies, aesthetics, economic security, danger, psychological refuge, ecology, and political power. Using an interpretive analysis of the narrative, visual, and spatial data related to those meanings, it then explores how such different local, place-based interpretations can be used to inform the theory, practice and politics of urban river restoration. The research shows that recognition of the socio-cultural diversity in local citizen interpretations of the Lower Neponset River's restoration is important for environmental managers, planners, and local decision-makers to recognize alongside ecological and economic development "best-practices" (e.g., holistic watershed management, anadromous fish re-introduction, flow and function, ecosystem services, affordable housing quotas, "Smart" growth, etc.). The research recommends that environmental managers, planners, and local politicians and decision-makers give equal consideration to the socio-cultural, political, economic, and ecological factors surrounding urban rivers, and the diversity of meanings that their "restoration" conjures, in order to make strides towards ethical environmental restoration and management practices that are socially, as well as environmentally, sustainable.

Los ríos, son los ejes vivos que estructuran un territorio, son dadores de vida y desarrollo de pueblos y ciudades, sin embargo, el crecimiento urbano acelerado y poco planificado ha dado la espalda a los ríos, convirtiéndolos en sarcófagos de concreto. Esta investigación se realizó en la ciudad de Bambamarca, Cajamarca, con el fin de detener la apropiación deterioro y contaminación de las riberas del río Tingo Maygasbamba, que en gran parte de su tramo esta en contacto con viviendas informales, en sus fajas marginales. La investigación se estructuró en tres fases: analítica, interpretativa y propositiva; que componen la Metodología de Renaturalización. La primera fase se enfocó en el análisis de la situación actual y la problemática de los bordes urbanos del río Tingo Maygasbamba, se desarrolló bajo dos enfoques, el primero estudió y analizó el paisaje urbano y sus diversos indicadores y el segundo se enfocó en el entorno natural y componentes del paisaje. Tras el análisis de esta primera fase, se describió y analizó cada indicador, llegando a conclusiones. La segunda fase se enfocó en el estudio de teorías, referentes y estrategias relacionados con Renaturalización de riberas y bordes de ríos. Se analizaron estrategias como corredor ecólogico, anillo verde, corredor biótico, zonas de amortiguamiento, eco urbanismo, entre otras, las cuales fueron analizadas e interpretadas para ser aplicadas en la tercera fase en donde se aplicaron estas estrategias en el territorio a nivel macro, que incluye ciudad y entorno, se ejecutó en una primera instancia un Master Plan y Plan Piloto, donde fueron aterrizadas todas las teorías y estrategias previamente estudiadas. / Rivers are the living axes that structure a territory, they are givers of life and development of towns and cities, however, accelerated and poorly planned urban growth has turned its back on the rivers, turning them into concrete sarcophagi. This research was carried out in the city of Bambamarca, Cajamarca, in order to stop the appropriation, deterioration and contamination of the banks of the Tingo Maygasbamba River, which in a large part of its stretch is in contact with informal housing, in its marginal strips. The research was structured in three phases: analytical, interpretive and propositional; that make up the Renaturalization Methodology. The first phase focused on the analysis of the current situation and the problems of the urban edges of the Tingo Maygasbamba River, it was developed under two approaches, the first studied and analyzed the urban landscape and its various indicators and the second focused on the environment. natural and landscape components. After the analysis of this first phase, each indicator was described and analyzed, reaching conclusions. The second phase focused on the study of theories, references and strategies related to the renaturalization of river banks and edges. Strategies such as ecological corridor, green ring, biotic corridor, buffer zones, eco-urbanism, among others, were analyzed and interpreted to be applied in the third phase where these strategies were applied in the territory at a macro level, which includes city and environment, a Master Plan and Pilot Plan was executed in the first instance, where all the theories and strategies previously studied were landed.