U21 Sustainable City Waterfront Adaptation to Climate Change Workshop

Dear U21 Water Network specialist,

If you have specialist expertise relevant to Sustainable City Waterfront Adaptation to Climate Change thenthe Water Futures for Sustainable Cities project team invites you to express interest in participating in a workshop to develop a coordinated, international research program on this Theme. We hope to attract specialists in water, biodiversity, economics, and policy and decision makers.

The overarching aims of this workshop are to consider waterfront adaptation to climate change and to:

·         Write a Position Paper describing a U21 – led team, its expertise, current best practice and the priority research questions.

·         Define fundable questions around this waterfronts theme.  Who are the funders? Who is the audience for the research?

·         Identify sub groups (of researchers) and components of the research theme.

·         Identify industry and commercial interest groups.

·         Use Ports (shipping and air) and their problems and location as case studies. Who is doing this adaptation already? What can we learn? London, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Singapore, Shanghai and Stockholm are possible examples of sources of best practice in waterfront adaptation.

The key questions are:

·         What are the trade- offs between economic development strategies, biodiversity strategies and the need for adaptation to climate change over the next 50-100 years?

·         What are the key measures of success in adaptation to climate change?

 

The component areas of research interest are:

Permanent Surge Barriers and Dike systems

·         How do coastal storm surge barriers affect biodiversity conservation?

·         How do they affect development within and outside the barriers? How are they paid for?

·         If a community doesn't use barriers, does it preserve certain economic strategy options or ecological options that would be lost if it did use a barrier system?

Patchy protection and gradual abandonment of less protected areas

·         How does the decision to roll development inland over time, instead of constructing barrier systems, affect the prospects for biodiversity and social equity?

·         What will be the effect of a patchy stepwise process of adaptation in countries with long coastlines and limited resources?

System Integration

·         How are stormwater drainage, river flood management and wastewater management involved, since they all affect water quality at the shoreline and would be involved in strategic tradeoffs?

Current relevant case studies are available which focus on:

·         Rainfall – driven flooding

·         River flooding

·         Tidal inundation

·         Storm surge inundation

·         Biodiversity support

Rotterdam has probably made the most progress, along with London.  Holland is proposing new strategies which will apply to situations in New York, and New Orleans and other cities worldwide. A number of Asian cities are also considering how to protect and enhance economic and ecological integrity in delta cities.

The project will be led by Professor Kristina Hill (University of Virginia). Project components will be identified that best utilise the unique expertise available within U21.

The purpose of the workshop is to develop a detailed position paper, project specifications, and to organise a uniquely qualified international team to manage and conduct the project work.

For more information on the U21 Water Futures for Sustainable Cities Programme see:

http://www.universitas21.com/water.html,

Key Dates

We need you to submit an Expression Of Interest to attend this workshop by November 3rd 2009 to Graham Steed (gsteed@albury.net.au). This EOI should contain a very brief summary of your potential contribution to this project (expertise, specific ideas on best practices or new challenges in particular cities etc). These EOIs will be reviewed and invitations to the workshop will then follow. Participation in the workshop will possibly require a short (10 min) presentation on your past experience/ potential contribution to the proposed Theme.

The workshop will be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands on 12- 13 January 2010. It is anticipated that workshop numbers will be limited to about 20 specialists.

All travel and accommodation costs will be the responsibility of individuals. There will be NO additional costs for workshop registration, meals and venue hire.

Please direct any organisation queries to Graham Steed and any technical questions to Professor Hill (keh3u@virginia.edu).

Graham Steed, for the WFSC Steering Committee.