The Seine: a shared, central space for 18th-century Parisian life.

This historical inquiry highlights the tremendously varied roles the Seine played in 18th-century Paris. Vital to commoners and nobility alike, the river was a place for trade and leisure, a shared yet also contested and remodeled site of decisive influence for the urban future.
The Seine slowly drifted from these roles to become a national waterway ever more removed from life in the capital, a monumental yet disembodied presence. This Parisian history of the Seine provides fertile ground for understanding urban possibilities and the shifting relationship between humans and cities.