re•flect is a research project that aims to visualise the strategic use of daylight in river restoration, letting stakeholders co-design and reflect on restoration scenarios, helping rivers reflect again.
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What is this project about?
re•flect addresses two contrasting but connected challenges: rural rivers are often overexposed to sunlight due to the removal of riparian woodlands for agriculture and infrastructure, while urban rivers are frequently buried in culverts due to dense development. Both issues reflect a broader conflict between ecological land use and human development.
re•flect is developing an interactive decision-making tool that makes environmental knowledge more accessible to non-experts, empowering stakeholders to participate meaningfully in ecosystem restoration. Using river restoration and daylight management as a case, the tool enables users to explore trade-offs among land-use and ecosystem service priorities—such as agricultural productivity, recreation, aesthetic value, climate and water regulation, biodiversity, and restoration costs. Built with video game technology, it integrates geographic and ecological models with real-time visual feedback to simulate how planning decisions shape the landscape and its ecological and economic consequences. The tool will be tested with real stakeholders in workshops to evaluate its effectiveness in fostering more inclusive, transparent, and evidence-informed environmental planning. Beyond supporting engagement, these workshops will also generate insights for scientists and policymakers into how stakeholders make decisions for ecosystem restoration and what factors influence those choices.
Scotland’s Rural Rivers: Overexposed and Overheated
In the Scottish countryside, many rivers lack riparian forests, leaving them overexposed to sunlight, especially in summer. This raises water temperatures, threatening cold-water species like Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).
Research shows that riparian woodland cover within a 25m buffer can reduce peak river temperatures by approximately 2°C, with the most vulnerable rivers in northern Scotland, the northwest, and the Cairngorm Mountains—areas with minimal tree cover.
Restoring riparian woodlands could not only cool these waters but also stabilize riverbanks and enhance ecosystem services.
Zurich’s Urban Rivers: Buried Streams and Fragmented Ecosystems
In contrast, Zurich’s urban rivers face a different set of challenges. Despite being a pioneer in river daylighting—restoring culverted rivers to open channels—one third of Zurich’s waterways remain underground. These culverts disrupt natural hydrological and ecological processes, fragment habitats, and limit biodiversity. While past efforts have successfully revived some urban streams, the remaining buried sections continue to hinder riverine connectivity and ecosystem function.
The Challenge of Multi-Stakeholder Coordination
In both cases, river restoration is a shared goal, but implementation is complex due to the diverse landscapes these rivers traverse. Whether in rural Scotland or urban Zurich, rivers flow through land owned or managed by multiple stakeholders, including farmers, local communities, conservation groups, and governmental agencies. Each of these groups has distinct interests, ranging from agricultural productivity to urban infrastructure, recreational use, and ecological conservation. Balancing these competing demands requires an inclusive, participatory approach to river restoration. Yet, stakeholders often struggle to make meaningful contributions due to limited ecological knowledge and planning experience, making it challenging to evaluate alternatives and anticipate outcomes
Our aims:
Develop a Inclusive Decision-making Tool
To address these challenges, we are developing an inclusive decision-making tool to engage stakeholders and support co-design in river restoration. We aim to:
Visualise River Scenarios: Provide interactive visualisations illustrating status quo and potential restoration outcomes, such as the effects of riparian reforestation or culvert removal.
Incorporate Stakeholder Perspectives: Gather input from diverse groups to understand priorities and potential conflicts.
Assess Costs and Benefits: Provide estimates of ecological and economic trade-offs to help stakeholders evaluate alternatives and anticipate impacts.
Support Collaborative Decision-Making: Bridge ecological goals with land-use needs, fostering consensus and informed decision-making.
Building on video game engine technologies, our tool will allow stakeholders to co-design river restoration scenarios. By integrating environmental data, ecological models, planning regulations, and interactive 3D visualizations, it automates the generation of landscape elements such as daylighted rivers and riparian woodland. It will enable users to explore, modify, and combine land-use and restoration alternatives in real time.
We will test the tool through workshops with stakeholders to assess the extent to which participants’ decisions regarding river restoration priorities and strategies change before and after using the tool. These workshops will bring together landowners, conservationists, urban planners, and community representatives to collaboratively explore and refine restoration strategies. By incorporating feedback from diverse perspectives, we aim to enhance the tool’s usability and effectiveness, making it a practical resource for decision-making in river restoration projects. The insights gained from these sessions will inform future iterations of the tool, ensuring it remains adaptable to different contexts and stakeholder needs.
Test the Tool in Practice
Investigate How do Stakeholders Making Decisions
From the workshops, we will conduct qualitative and quantitative analyses to understand how stakeholders balance trade-offs among competing land-use and ecosystem service priorities—such as agricultural production, aesthetic value and recreation, climate regulation (e.g., carbon sequestration), water regulation, biodiversity, and restoration cost—when making decisions on river restoration, and to examine how these decisions differ across stakeholder groups (e.g., NGOs or local authorities vs. local residents).
Our Team
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Prof. Dr. Fritz Kleinschroth
SCIENTIFIC LEAD
Professor at the Planning for Biodiversity and Vegetation Development, the Institute of Environmental Planning at Leibniz Universität Hannover. (link) -
Prof. Dr. Jaboury Ghazoul
PROJECT LEAD
Professor at the Ecosystem Management group, the Department of Environmental Sciences, ETH Zurich. (link) -
Dr.Xuezhu Zhai
POSTDOC SCIENTIST
Postdoc, Ecosystem Management group, the Department of Environmental Sciences, ETH Zurich. (link)
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Dr. Peter Marcus Bach
CO-PI
Director & Founder, EdenCT; Honorary Adjunct Research Fellow, Monash University, Australia (link)
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Dr. Matthias Buchecker
CO-PI
Senior scientist, Economics and Social Sciences group, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL. (link)
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Anne Giger Dray
PROJECT MANAGER
Senior scientist, Ecosystem Management group, the Department of Environmental Sciences, ETH Zurich.(link)
Research Progress
Potential of Using Generative Artificial Intelligence for Participatory River Restoration
Challenges in Daylight Management for River Restoration and Practical Implementation Needs for a Decision-Making Tool
(coming soon…)Developing an Ecologically Integrated 3D Visualization Tool for Participatory River Restoration
Get Involved
We’re seeking participants to share insights and help shape our project. If you’re interested in discussing challenges you've encountered in past river restoration projects, using tools to communicate, and your preferences for the design of our new tool, we’d love to hear from you! The interview will take 1-1.5 hours, and your input will make a meaningful impact.
Take Part in Our Interview!
Join Our Advisory Board!
What is expected:
Attendance and Engagement: Participate in scheduled meetings and engage actively in discussions.
Strategic Input: Provide high-level guidance on the project’s direction, methodology, and impact goals.
Network Support: Leverage your professional network to assist with project dissemination, partnerships, and outreach if needed.
Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Respect: Maintain confidentiality regarding all project details, methodologies, and findings. Advisory board members are expected not to share, replicate, or disclose any project information to external parties or other research teams.
What you can expect from us:
Early Access to the Visualisation Tool: Exclusive opportunity to use and test our tools or resources prior to wider testing phases and academic publication.
Clear Communication and Regular Updates: Frequent updates on project progress, key findings, and any emerging challenges.
Structured Meetings: Scheduled advisory board meetings at key project milestones, with agendas shared in advance.
Opportunities for Input: Dedicated time for board members to provide insights, raise concerns, and contribute to decision-making processes.
Recognition of Contribution: Acknowledgment of your role and contributions in project publications, presentations, and other public outputs.
Interested? Contact us at xuezhu.zhai@usys.ethz.ch or click the button to join.