Executive summary

Re-discovering rivers and lakes in cities

In Europe, extensive urbanisation poses a range of significant challenges for the natural resources and ecosystems within and close to urban regions, including the rivers, streams and lakes which are part of the landscape of cities and towns.

In recent decades, and after the gradual improvement of water quality due to wastewater treatment and reduced industrial activities, urban rivers and lakes have become increasingly important in the planning of urban ecology, green infrastructure and green areas in European cities. Especially, river and lake restoration are offering win–win situations: they improve flood control and ecological functions while offering recreational value and raising the quality of life in urban areas. They also mitigate the impacts of the urban heat island effect while providing better visual balance to the cityscape.

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Restoration projects offer the chance for a future oriented city planning and development. In recent years more and more people have been recognizing this as an asset for their quality of life. For many years, cities were turning their back to water (harbours, rivers) or were covering rivers to protect themselves from pollution and flood risk. Now rivers and lakes are being re-discovered as valuable spots in the city landscape. Activities on the restoration of urban rivers and lakes are likely to expand further as urban development continues and the demand for safe, sustainable and attractive cities increases. Indeed, much of the impetus for urban restoration efforts has been the recognition of the range of public benefits that river restoration provides. As more and more cities move towards a water-centric urban design, many restoration projects have urban regeneration as part of their primary objectives.

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Against this background, many European cities have developed broad visions and strategies to promote a more integrated management of their water bodies, especially in terms of restoring their rivers and lakes. Such strategies provide a broad framework for carrying out a number of restoration projects over a longer planning period. There are also important links between restoration and local/city authority strategies for open space, green infrastructure or green networks.

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In the European Union, there are also several policy processes that act as drivers for managing urban rivers and lakes in a more integrated way. This relates to several Directives such as the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, the Water Framework Directive, the Floods Directive, the Birds and the Habitats Directives as well as other policies such as the EU strategy on adaptation, Green Infrastructure and more recently the Urban Agenda for the EU. These policy processes and their interplay with one another can contribute to linking water quality improvements with ecosystem protection, climate change adaptation and recently with urban development in urban areas across Europe.

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Objectives of this report

This report aims to outline the ways European cities develop strategies and measures to cope with the key challenges they currently face for their inland surface waters (rivers and lakes) and showcase specific measures, strategies and initiatives which can serve as source of inspiration and lessons learned. For this purpose, river and lake restoration strategies and projects in European cities were screened and seventeen case studies were selected for presentation in this report.

Coping with key challenges for urban rivers and lakes

For the purpose of this report, the major challenges that urban rivers and lakes in European cities face are grouped into:

  • Water availability and supply challenges
  • Water quality issues
  • Structural changes, related among others also to flood risk management.

For each of these major challenges, the report provides a brief review of the issues at stake, documents the key approaches followed to deal with the issues and gives case study illustrations.

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Water availability and supply: Several European cities depend on surface waters for their drinking water supply, in several cases having to resort to rivers or lakes situated hundreds of km away from the city. The design of urban water supply infrastructure still predominantly rests on a engineering and supply-led approach dating back to the first stage of urban development and industrialisation. However, to prevent urban water crises, water resources should be managed effectively at every stage, involving consumption reductions, new ways of collecting and using water and awareness campaigns.

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Water quality: Urban rivers and lakes have also been heavily polluted in the process of urbanization and industrialisation of the last century. Looking back to the past 25 years, clear progress has been made in reducing emissions into urban rivers and lakes due to connections to sewers, the introduction of wastewater treatment and the upgrading of earlier treatment plants. Improvements in the water quality of urban rivers and lakes due to reduced emissions and wastewater improvement have brought about benefits to river and lake ecology. However, some key challenges still remain with water quality impacts related to stormwater management and historical pollution of sediments.

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Structural changes: Rapid urbanisation and industrial growth have introduced additional types of stress to urban rivers and lakes, in the form of modifications to their morphology and hydrology (e.g. via river channelization and straightening). This has taken space away from the river to serve flood protection and the creation of living space for growing towns. This report describes the response of cities and towns to impacts of physical modifications and distinguishes between activities that aim at a) hydromorphological restoration mainly of rivers and streams of medium/small size, b) activities of de-culverting covered streams and rivers and c) restoration of urban water bodies with strong links to flood risk management. In practice, all these types of activities are strongly interconnected and often take place simultaneously in the context of the same restoration scheme.

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Lessons learned and way forward

The case studies on urban river and lake restoration reviewed for this report reveal that there are several critical aspects to think about when planning and running urban restoration activities.  The report draws some key lessons learned from the reviewed case studies and frames some key contextual issues, which are potentially relevant to different urban settings across Europe. These are aspects related to local planning processes, the multi-functionality of urban restoration, availability of space for urban restoration, public participation and the involvement of multiple actors.

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Local planning: Restoring the water environment in urban areas has very important links with local planning and with flood risk management. Local authorities can use land use planning processes to deliver improvements to urban rivers and lakes. Strategic development plans and local development plans are produced by planning authorities with input from a wide range of stakeholders. They can identify aspirations and assist delivery of restoration, and offer an important opportunity for interested parties to become involved in the decision making process. In this context, the planning process and financing of restoration measures in urban areas requires strong collaboration of water and city development authorities, authorities responsible for urban and spatial planning and local residents.

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Multi-functionality: In designing restoration projects for urban rivers and lakes, it is important to aim for multi-functional schemes. Multi-functional schemes contribute to the achievement of multiple benefits for different sectors, and are thus in a better position to raise different funding sources and enhance cooperation between different actors in the governance setting. Multi-functional urban restoration measures are seen as win-win measures that help deliver synergies, e.g. to implement different policies such as the WFD, Floods Directive and Habitats Directive. Except for the strong links of restoration with flood risk management, it is additionally important to create spaces that allow experiencing nature. Such win-win restoration measures can easier gain public and political acceptance and secure multiple sources of (co-)funding. It also becomes obvious that defining multiple benefits more accurately (both direct and indirect benefits in terms of ecosystem services) often supports decision-making for restoration projects in cities.

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Space for restoration: In urban areas, where available space is limited, river restoration projects are frequently restricted. However, there is potential to deliver improvements in physical condition, along with significant environmental and social benefits, by using innovative approaches. For example, there may be opportunities to remove redundant structures and buildings, and restore derelict land alongside rivers in order to improve local amenity and environment. Because of the lack of space in urban areas, some cities have also been developing stepping-stone concepts for restoring the networks of their water bodies. Such stepping-stone approaches involve starting restoration from the outskirts and peri-urban areas and moving step-by-step towards the more central urban areas, which are more difficult to restore.

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Public participation: Planning and execution of measures in urban river restoration should not follow a top-down approach. Public consultation and engagement with local communities have emerged as a crucial step in the planning and implementation of restoration measures in cities. Civil society and the private sector are crucial for the development of cities and their hinterlands and will play a major role in coping with the challenges ahead.

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Governance framework: Except for engaging with the public and citizens affected by restoration schemes, it proves equally important to establish effective cooperation between the different actors (especially government bodies and organised stakeholder groups) with a stake and influence on urban restoration.

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Activities on the restoration of urban rivers and lakes are likely to expand further as urban development continues and demands for a sustainable and enhanced quality of life increase.

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