Europe's cities are opening their rivers back to swimmers. From Paris to Berlin, officials are racing to clean up centuries-old waterways, betting that a swimmable river is now essential urban infrastructure, not a luxury, as heatwaves intensify and summers get harder to survive.
When Paris opened the Seine to public swimming last year, it wasn’t just a headline-grabbing stunt tied to the Olympics. It was the visible tip of a larger shift across Europe: cities are starting to see their rivers and canals not as engineering problems hidden behind concrete embankments, but as public spaces worth restoring, protecting and living alongside.
