INTRODUCTION

Although known for her extensive work on labour, gender and the socio-economic production of place, Doreen Massey also engaged with the links between physical and human geography (Harrison et al. 2004) and the pursuit of common epistemological ground between these subdisciplines (Massey 1999g). In particular, she suggested that these subfields share important engagements with questions regarding how space, time and “space-time” are conceptualized, arguing that a historical perspective has been a crucial shared focal point for these seemingly disparate subdisciplines. Her vision for greater engagement between physical and human geography was not merely a plea for encouraging greater interdisciplinary cooperation; rather, she articulated it as a way for each to integrate some of the associated ontological and epistemological scaffolding of the other in order to begin to address larger societal questions and to develop a fuller understanding of the social and physical production of space. She further encouraged physical geographers, in particular, to shed some of their “physics envy” and embrace some of the broader theoretical and normative approaches in the social sciences. In many ways, Massey anticipated and inspired contemporary efforts to rethink and transcend the human–physical divide (e.g., Lane 2014; Lave et al. 2014; Ashmore 2015). Using our ongoing work on river restoration in New England, we take up Massey’s challenge to integrate physical and human geography. Our analysis of dam removals reveals the benefits of a geographically holistic approach, taking into account contestations over interpretations of history, scientific expertise, knowledge production, identity and micropolitics (Fox et al. 2016). The result is a more robust understanding of the relationship between river restoration and the production of place.

River restoration is a big business; within the United States (US), it is a $1 billion per year enterprise (Bernhardt et al. 2005) with many scientists claiming that the practice is rapidly outpacing the science of river restoration (Wohl et al. 2015). River restoration is an all-encompassing term that includes bank stabilization, fish ladders, flow modification, channel design, land acquisition, riparian/wetland management and dam removal – approaches that vary in price and engineering/geomorphic design and intensity.