AbstractAs government and organizations responsible for river mangement throughout the World become increasingly aware of the need to reconcile engineering objectives with nature conservation, alternative strategies for river management such as channel restoration are likely to continue to be developed and applied to particular areas.Based on the experiences of 15 restoration projects in Denmark and Britain the criteria which determine the success of such projects are outlined. The essential precursor to a successful restoration project is a thorough feasibility and planning study. The type of restoration work included in a project is constrained by a variety of factors, including the physcial environment and the project objectives. The detailed design needs to be tailored to the individual river reaches under consideration. Project planning should consider the timing and supeervision of construction and make recommendations on the nature of maintenance. A management plan is desirable and post‐project appraisal is essetnial to evaluate the long‐term hydraulic and environmental performances. These criteria have been applied to two recent projects carried out on the River Lambourn in Berkshire, England, and on the Elbaek in central Jutland, Denm