6. URBAN RIVERS

URBEM project

The URBEM project will provide new tools, techniques and procedures to enhance watercourses located in urban areas. These tools will provide enough scope to cover the differing, multi-functional uses of urban watercourses and their adjacent communities across Europe. URBEM will provide for those who are involved in urban river rehabilitation, the best and most innovative practice with which to develop a comprehensive rehabilitation scheme that will achieve the "maximum ecological potential" requirements of the Water Framework Directive. As river rehabilitation involves many aspects the project is targeted at different institutions involved in the enhancement of watercourses at all levels.
The specific technical and scientific objectives of the URBEM research project are:

Bringing your rivers back to life – A strategy for restoring rivers in North London

The aims of this guide are to:

Restoration of River and Floodplains in Bavaria

The floods in 1999 and 2002 hit many countries in middle Europe and also parts of Bavaria. The state of Bavaria developed 2003 the “Action program 2020, flood control in Bavaria”. The program covers

URSULA – Urban river corridors and sustainable living agendas

This position paper provides background information on the current state of the urban river corridors in the Sheffield conurbation, as well as policies, strategies and plans for future development. It provides an introduction to the full range of issues affecting and affected by the river corridors, in order to inform the development of the URSULA project. The intention is to help get the project off to a flying start, by developing a shared understanding of the problems and potential solutions, for both university partners and collaborators in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Clearly, it is not possible to provide detailed information on all the different characteristics and drivers (social, technical, environmental, economic, political); this document is not intended to be exhaustive. However, we do hope that this summary will provide a useful and interesting introduction to the current status and key trends in the development of the river corridors.

Download State of Sheffield's urban river corridors - URSULA report no 1

Download Stakeholder Workshop - URSULA report no 2

Liquid Assets - Making the Most of our Urban Watercourses (1998)

This report was initiated by the Urban Design Alliance, and compiled by a joint working group of members of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Landscape Institute. The Working Group comprised:

Brent River Park Project

The River Brent Restoration Project, a partnership project between the London Borough of Brent and the Environment Agency, aims to restore up to 2 km of the River Brent, enhancing employment, providing opportunities for recreation, improving safety and accessibility to the locality.

Visit the project website

Urban Rivers Restoration Initiative (2002)

American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) In July 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army entered into a memorandum of understanding (PDF) (4 pp, 221K, About PDF) to address water quality issues, economic revitalization, and the public use and enjoyment of urban rivers. The two agencies agreed to designate eight (8) demonstration pilot projects to coordinate the planning and implementation of urban river cleanup and restoration.
An Urban Rivers pilot designation will bring about increased coordination and cooperation between the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with respect to restoring degraded urban rivers and will involve remedial, water quality, and environmental restoration activities related to each agency’s respective authorities (e.g., the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, various Water Resources Development Acts, the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Clean Water Act.

Visit the project website

Riverfestival

Riverfestival is an iconic Brisbane event which connects the people of Brisbane to their river and lifestyle and focuses strongly on the environment. Through an extraordinarily diverse programme of forums, dialogues, community and free events, Riverfestival actively seeks ways of expressing how the Brisbane community sees itself and its “place” in contemporary Australia and how Brisbane connects to the rest of the world. Central to the programme is the International Riversymposium, a significant world event for the water and river. For 2008, the theme was A Future of Extremes and as such provided a focus for the remainder of the Riverfestival programme.
Several documents are downloadable from the Riversymposium page.
Click here for the Riverfestival.
Click here for the Riversymposium.

Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan

The Los Angeles River flows through diverse communities throughout Los Angeles. The river presents opportunities to revitalize the neighbourhoods, to invest in the communities, to bring nature to people, and to enhance the quality of life. The 18-month Revitalization planning process will look at improvements along the project area all aimed towards celebrating neighbourhoods, protecting wildlife, promoting the health of the river, and leveraging economic development. By the end of the planning process, a 20-year blueprint for development and management of the Los Angeles River will be developed for implementation by the City of Los Angeles. River revitalization through the city would integrate multiple objectives – including recreation, parks, storm water management, but also housing, transportation, economic development, and more.

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REURIS - Revitalisation of Urban River Spaces.

The essence of REURIS is to implement strategies and activities aimed at the reconstruction of natural and cultural resources and the management of urban river spaces. Eight partners will therefore create a common set of methods and procedures allowing for coordinated work of multidisciplinary teams as well as effective social involvement and will test these tools in practice in order to assess their effectiveness. Researchers and practitioners from Plzen and Brno (Czech Republic), from Stuttgart and Leipzig (Germany) and from Bydgoszcz and Katowice (Poland) will cooperate on these issues. With respect to the particular local waterbody each partner is interested in:

• a holistic approach to the entire process of planning, designing and realisation of revitalisation combined with a rise of the local communities’ interest in the quality of urban river space;
• improving public access to and recreational space along the river, developing the river as the city’s green axis including water tourism and cultural heritage aspects, upgrading flood protection and stormwater management, improving natural habitats in river corridor;
• developing procedures for co-operative planning of urban river space and appropriate consensus methods, designing and implementing pilot investments and procedures for the external financing of activities.

For more information on REURIS click here