Summary report from Nottingham symposium (23 January 2009) 

The end of January 2009 saw the first of two planned workshops devoted to the multi-disciplinary exploration of waterfront development and its consequences for environmental, social and economic activities within cities in the developed and developing world. 

The two keynote presentations were delivered by Mr P K Das, a leading Indian architect and social activist from Mumbai, “Democracy, Architecture and Social Change: The Movement for Reclaiming Mumbai’s Waterfronts” and Mr Fred Pearce, a prize-winning author and environmental journalist, “ When The Rivers Run Dry”.

Mr Das is engaged in some of the worlds largest slums rehabilitation projects – over 20,000 families of the Borivali National Park slums and over 80,000 families living in the slums within Mumbai Airport. His capacity to not only plan and design but as an activist to mobilize and engage the affected people in the development process is unique. His projects along the western waterfronts of Mumbai have won several city, national and international awards. He has received ‘Clear Water’ award given by the ‘Waterfront Centre’ Washington D.C. Recently he has jointly won the first Urban Age Award instituted by the London School of Economics & Deutsche Bank. Finally, and he is a visiting faculty in 3 schools of architecture in India.

Fred Pearce is an author and journalist based in London. He is one of Britain's finest science writers and has reported on environment, popular science and development issues from 64 countries over the past 20 years. He specialises in global environmental issues, including water and climate change. Fred has written a wide range of books on environment and development issues which include:  When the Rivers Run Dry.  He has also written reports and extended journalism for WWF, the UN Environment Programme, the Red Cross, UNESCO, the World Bank, the European Environment Agency, and the UK Environment Agency. He is a regular broadcaster and international speaker on environmental issues and has won many awards since 1987, most notably the 2001 UK environment journalist of the year , 2002 CGIAR agricultural research science journalism award (consultative group on International Agricultural research)

After the keynotes, presentations then followed from both academics and practitioners: among the many highlights were examples of the use of  leading edge GIS/GPS technology for the recording of human experience in city environments; a first attempt at extending the concept of MacDonaldisation to the standardisation of experience, structure and logistics of waterfronts around the world; the historiography of architectural intervention in waterfront environments; and various practical experiences with the design, management and planning of waterfront environments within the UK and overseas.

The theme to emerge from the various contributions to the symposium, and from debate from the audience of c. 40, was the role which built environment plays in changing and conditioning social and cultural experience: waterfronts within cities may thus be enablers of social change and democratisation (as in Mumbai), and/or act to constrain social inclusion if ‘imposed’ as a symptom of international development and globalisation.  Waterfronts are, therefore, a core issue in the wider consideration of the sustainability of cities and their water futures.