Abstract
Rivers, see fronts, bays and estuaries have always been considered the best places for living (for commercial, military or religious reasons). Therefore, most of the main cities in the world are built around waterfronts. Nowadays, cities are reevaluating their relations with water and tend to enhance their waterfronts through urban renewal. Many embankments are created, in particular in the US and UK. A more experimental type of projects, which has been developing for the last 10 years, concerns rehabilitation of small urban rivers. We mean the rivers that disappeared in the XIXth century as they were considered to be dangerous from the hygienic point of view since they could accelerate the spread of diseases, and they could cause floods as well. Lyon is a good example of this evolution. Its small rivers are subject to urban and ecological renewal. The article states that Samara, which is situated at the confluence of the Volga River and the Samara River, can benefit from its geographic assets which can increase the value of the whole city within the scope of the project at a territorial scale.