Watercourse restoration concerns rivers/streams that have been degraded by the urbanization process or by heavily engineered water management solutions: contained underground watercourses, channelled rivers, concrete banks, embankments, dams, among others. Despite being necessary solutions, excessive containment of waterflow means that a man-imposed limit on volume and flow might not be sufficient, offering lower flexibility to behaviour changes over time. Mixed solutions that combine man-driven watercourse control while respecting the riverbank ecosystem offers greater success at short and long term, while promoting biodiversity, ecological connectivity and a major increase in water purification.

• Bringing urban streams to surface and designing them according to social, aesthetic, environmental and economic principles is a solution that is being tested in front runner cities with great health and wellbeing benefits towards local communities.

• It can be implemented in many sites but need to be adapted to flow regimes, ecological context (climate, local vegetation), and public needs;
• This NBS can be adapted to different watercourse sizes, from small streams (temporary) and rivers to the main rivers (permanent). It can be implemented all along the river or in different sections.