Links and Resources

Below are links to other websites dealing with urban river sustainability, together with brief reviews of each site's contents. At present, the sites are grouped alphabetically by region.

SMURF cannot guarantee the accessibility or accuracy of these external websites.

UK-based

Central Rivers Initiative (project also based on River Tame)

"Central Rivers" refers to the 13 mile stretch from Tamworth to Burton on Trent, where the Tame joins the River Trent. Because of industrialisation, house-building and gravel quarrying in the area the rivers here have a lot of scope for regeneration. The Central Rivers Initiative has brought together local councils, bodies like English Nature and the Environment Agency and interested companies. The aim is for all parties to co-ordinate and work together to improve the Central Rivers environment and encourage recreation. The website includes an account of the initiative, a map and contact details.

Centre for Water Research

This is a multi-disciplinary centre of the University of Birmingham. One of its research themes at the moment is Urban Water Environment Management - learning more about how man-made processes and natural ones interact so we can get better at regenerating the urban environment. Two studies in this area are taking the River Tame as their model to increase our knowledge of urban rivers.

Eastside

Website for the £6 billion regeneration project for the Eastside of Birmingham, led by the city council. The project includes Millennium Point, home to Thinktank, Birmingham's new museum of science and industry, a rejuvenated Bullring Centre, a new Central Library building and redeveloping the canalsides. Covering over 420 acres this is one of the largest urban regeneration projects in Europe. The website contains extensive information on the project, photos and a webcam.

The River Restoration Centre (RRC)

The River Restoration Centre is the UK national information and advisory centre on all aspects of river restoration and enhancement, and sustainable river management. Based in Bedfordshire, it is a non-profit making organisation which co-ordinates information and provides expert consultancy to members. The website has extensive information on river renewal techniques, conferences and workshops, UK projects and publications. The European Centre for River Restoration suggests other countries use the UK RRC as their example for setting up a national network.

SLIM

SLIM is an abbreviation for "social learning for the integrated management and sustainable use of water at catchment scale". Social learning is when a group working together come up with new ideas which none could have thought of alone. Researchers in social science, systems and land use have come together to try to study how ideas about social learning can help involve local people and other stakeholders in decision-making about river catchment areas. The website contains case studies, some information about social learning, contact details and links.

URGENT

Research Councils are bodies that take money from central government and fund scientific research. The Natural Environment Research Council's job is to fund research into the Earth as a complex interacting system. One of NERC's research themes at the moment is URGENT - Urban Regeneration and the Environment - which is all about learning more about how man-made processes and natural ones interact so we can get better at regenerating the urban environment. The website explains why, what this means and gives information about research projects.

European

The Centre for Water in Urban Areas (FSP-WIB)

Academic centre at the Technical University of Berlin. The centre brings together experts from various disciplines to study problems in sustainable urban water management. The website includes information about previous and ongoing research (including international projects), staff members and their expertise, conferences and the 'dialogue network on run-off management'. The latter is a prototype information-sharing network on run-off management, particularly for experiences in developing countries.

CityNet

This is the network of European Research Projects on Integrated Urban Water Management, a research project supported by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme. The network includes 60 research institutions across Europe (and three in Australia). CityNet's concern is finding methods of assessment and decision-making in water management in urban areas (e.g. coming up with decision-making tools for repairing and maintaining sewer networks in the most cost-efficient way). The work is split into six complementary projects. The website has information about the projects and upcoming conferences.

Cycleau Project

This InterReg IIIB projects aims to form a shared, integrated approach to the planning and management of natural water resources in the coastal zone, combining it with whole catchment management. The project also involves local communities in the planning and management at 11 different sites in SW England, NW France and NW Ireland.

Database on Good Practice in Urban Management and Sustainability

Does exactly what it says on the tin. A database set up by the European Commission about urban management and sustainability. It contains case studies to, hopefully, allow people to learn from each other's experience and disseminate good practice. There are also other documents for background information and links to other databases. The website and the database itself are commendably clear and easy to use, the case studies are presented in a standard format and are easy to read and search.

EUROCITIES

Europe-wide network and lobbying organisation for large cities. Eurocities aims to help cities exchange information, co-ordinate activities and make their voices heard to EU institutions. Website includes a searchable database of documents, projects and events and profiles of member cities including websites.

European Topic Centre on Water

The European Environment Agency runs the European environment information and observation network (EIONET). Water is one of its five topic centres, streamlining, collecting and disseminating information. The website contains information about EIONET, the water topic centre, links to other organisations and, perhaps most importantly, WATERBASE. WATERBASE is an extensive database of information about the status and quality of Europe's rivers, lakes and groundwater.

The European Centre for River Restoration (ECRR)

Umbrella organisation for European River Restoration projects. The ECRR helps co-ordinate river restoration projects across Europe and also helps members exchange information, get advice and learn from each other's experiences. The website has lots of information about projects across Europe, upcoming and previous conferences and relevant literature.

European Water Association

The Europe-wide umbrella organisation for water professionals. The EWA consists of 25 European national associations representing professionals and technicians for wastewater and water utilities as well as consultants, and several firms and enterprises as corporate members. It therefore represents about 55,000 professional individuals working in water management. The website has information about the association and its members and about conferences, workshops and meetings.

Harmoni-CA

Another project (like URBEM) funded by the European Commission and set up to help meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive. Harmoni-CA's area is the use of computer tools in modelling and planning. The aim of the project is 'harmonising' use of these tools by bringing people together to co-ordinate projects and come up with standardised approaches to monitoring, modelling, etc. The website has information about the project, work areas and research. There is more information to download if you register. This website is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

HarmoniCOP

HarmoniCOP is short for harmonising collaborative planning. This is another project set up to help meet the requirements of the EU's Water Framework Directive. HarmoniCOP's area to study is public participation in planning how to manage our river basins. They hope to find new ways of informing the public and involving them in decision-making, find and pass on examples of 'best practice' and also find ways of measuring public involvement - so you have a way to tell if it's working. The website contains information on the project, how the work is divided up into themes, reports so far (in pdf form, includes a review of 'social learning' and studies on public participation in different countries), information about participants and an informative links section.

International Water Association

The global umbrella organisation for water professionals. The IWA membership includes over 100 national associations as well as corporate, individual and student members. Its services include conferences, forums, specialist groups and specially set up task forces. The website includes information about the association, access to the newsletter and other publications and about job vacancies and courses.

MULINO

MULINO stands for MULtisectoral, INtegrated and Operational - a project to produce a decision support system for sustainable use of water resources at the catchment scale. The website presents the project reports, and details the decision-support software developed.

PURE

'Planning for Urban-rural River Environments' is a North Sea based Interreg IIIB project. It aims to develop and implement sustainable solutions for the problems of flooding, dehydration, poor water quality and the lack of spatial quality and identity on the fringes of medium sized cities.

The Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)

Large organisation promoting and co-ordinating environmental improvements in this complex region. The REC works with governments, NGOs, businesses and other interested groups promoting co-operation and information sharing. This is particularly important where environmental issues cross borders (e.g. polluted rivers which flow through more than one country) and in areas with a history of conflict, such as the Balkans. Many countries in this region hope to join the EU and addressing environmental issues helps prepare the way. The REC has offices in 15 countries and is soon to open its newest office in Turkey. The website has lots of information on REC projects (from drafting environmental law to promoting public involvement), local offices, conferences and job vacancies.

Tisza River project

Website for The Tisza River Project. This river, which flows through Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, was heavily polluted with cyanide and heavy metals in 2000. The project aims to co-ordinate knowledge and management of the river's catchment and promote the ecology of the area. The site is informative, clear and easy to navigate and contains a wealth of technical information.

URBEM

Homepage of the Urban River Basin Enhancement Methods project. This project, funded by the European Commission aims to develop new research, planning and decision-making tools to use in regenerating urban rivers. The project is concentrating on social and assessment issues more than technical ones. For example, we want to make urban rivers look nicer so that the local community use them more but 'how nice it looks' is difficult to measure. One research theme is therefore to come up with a way to evaluate the aesthetic quality of urban rivers. The website has information about the project, partners and contact details.

International

International Institute for Sustainable Development

The IISD is a charitable organisation committed to sustainable development and a better standard of living for everyone. They work towards this by lobbying governments and other organisations, researching and advocating sustainable solutions and communicating information on sustainability as widely and effectively as possible. The website gives access to extensive briefing notes and analysis on everything from trade talks to climate change.

UN-HABITAT

1 billion human beings live in slums, if left unchecked that is expected to rise to 3 billion by 2050. The UN is committed to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It exists to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities that provide adequate shelter for all. It monitors trends and conditions, acts as an advocate for slum-dwellers and promotes best practice. The website contains a wealth of information about projects, statistics, publications, etc.

Do you know of a website dealing with urban river sustainability? If so, please email details to [email protected].

 

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