investigating the sustainable development of urban river corridors

Rivers have historically been at the heart of many cities and these potentially attractive and ecologically interesting urban spaces are now prime targets for redevelopment, offering the opportunity to create mixed use, high-density and high-quality communities.

The URSULA (Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Urban Living Agendas) research consortium believes that there are significant social, economic and environmental gains to be made by integrated and innovative interventions in urban river corridors.

URSULA is unique in that it tackles river corridor issues holistically by treating the river and its urban setting as a system. Over 4 years the project will produce innovations, tools and knowledge to help guide the regeneration of urban river corridors worldwide.

URSULA is an ambitious interdisciplinary research project lasting 4 years and worth over £2.5m, combining the expertise of the Universities of Sheffield, Bradford and Durham. Researchers are co-located in Sheffield to facilitate interaction, catalyse innovation and increase the efficiency of the project by reducing costs. The themes of People, Design, River and Values drive this interdisciplinary approach.

For more information visit http://www.ursula.ac.uk or email Project Manager Tom Wild: t.wild@shef.ac.uk.

URSULA’s interdisciplinary approach on display

The URSULA (Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Urban Living Agendas) research project, funded by the EPSRC, aims to produce innovations, tools and knowledge to help guide the regeneration of urban river corridors worldwide. URSULA believes that there are significant social, economic and environmental gains to be made by integrated and innovative interventions in urban river corridors and therefore prides itself on an entrenched interdisciplinary approach.

These interdisciplinary credentials were on full display at the recent 2nd Annual Conference. Presentations covered a diverse range of topics including governance of river corridors, power at the policy-research interface, social network analysis, weir modification, eels and bird species to be found within Sheffield's river corridors, use of GIS to identify stormwater disconnections, and theory and practice of Bayesian Belief Networks and visualisation media.
There was also had a good helping of sustainable urban design topics covering flood resilience, green roofs, urban microclimates and riverside access.

URSULA researchers say:

‘The fact that the presentations were derived from current research results within URSULA reflects the fact that the problem of achieving sustainable development within urban river corridors is very complex and multifaceted, requiring expertise from a wide range of researchers.

Without bringing these researchers together, the problem of achieving sustainable development cannot be answered. It is vital that holistic multidisciplinary thinking is taken up, not just in the context of urban river corridors, but across the board of policy development.’

URSULA research involves 4 themes: People, Design,the River and Values. Together these research themes address the question of how to manage the sustainable regeneration of urban river corridors, in order to maximise benefits to society, the economy and the environment. URSULA is an ambitious interdisciplinary research project lasting 4 years and worth over £2.5m, combining the expertise of the Universities of Sheffield, Bradford and Durham.

For more information visit http://www.ursula.ac.uk or email Project Manager Tom Wild: t.wild@shef.ac.uk.