Students: Hans Hortig, Karoline Kostka

The Tiber River has for long been the lifeline of Rome and even played an instrumental role in the legendary founding of the city. In Roman times the river was critically important for transport and trade, as well as for the establishing of the famous Roman sewer system. At the same time it was a threat to the city - the Campus Martius is a flood plain and would regularly flood to a depth of several meters.
Today the river is confined between high stone embankments and, having lost most of its earlier functions, passes through the city largely unnoticed. More and more, Tiber appears as an independent entity running from his source in the mountains through the countryside and the suburbs to the very centre of the city and off into the sea. Thus the perspective of the river could be a very interesting vehicle to observe and understand the urbanization in and around Rome.