Edinburgh participating in the Waterfront Communities Project

Edinburgh (Scotland, UK) is one of nine cities located around the North Sea who are participating in the Waterfront Communities Project.

The Project is a network of cities learning from each other about their waterfronts, and striving to reconnect with the sea.

Each city is experimenting with new ways of tackling a particular challenge of waterfront development such as integrating new and existing communities or transport links. These activities are organized around nine project themes allowing cities to consider a wider range of issues than would have been possible working alone.

Edinburgh, for example, is currently in the process of developing two areas of their waterfront – Granton and Leith Docks. The key challenges for these new developments are:

• realizing the waterfront’s potential in a regional context;
• integrating the new development with existing urban areas;
• achieving sustainable urban form in the development; and
• achieving high standards of design and environmental quality.

Other ICLEI Members participating in the Waterfront Communities Project are Aalborg (Denmark), Goteborg (Sweden), and Oslo (Norway).

Urban form – in particular residential and employment densities – influence local energy consumption. Cities with higher population densities can take advantage of efficient ways to distribute energy and heat, and utilize transportation modes that are more energy-efficient and produce fewer carbon dioxide emissions. For more information, please visit www.iclei.org/ccp.

Edinburgh is one of 166 local governments in Europe that are currently Members of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. For more information on ICLEI and its activities in Europe, please visit www.iclei.org/europe.

Source: “Waterfront Communities Project”, IPS News, 23 March 2007.