Conference overview

'Strategies for successful waterfront city development'

The conference will look at both 'the big picture' – strategies that cities should employ to capitalise on the potential of waterfronts and ‘the detail' – translating strategies into reality via planning, design, construction and management techniques based on best practice and shared experience.

Case studies: All the selected case studies will have achieved excellence in some way. A diverse range of international waterfront cities will be presented: regenerated waterfronts, new-build schemes; some will be based around leisure and retail, others will have residential and commercial components. Several will demonstrate the benefits of integrating all of these elements into thriving mixed-use waterfront developments. All will demonstrate the considerable social, cultural and economic benefits of getting the formula right!

Focus sessions: For the first time at WaterfrontExpo, delegates will be able to opt out of the main programme and attend focus sessions dealing with such vital issues as marketing waterfronts, connecting with communities, waterfront planning & design, transportation systems, project funding and tourism development – in many cases using examples from the Greater Glasgow region to illustrate the points.

Lively panel discussions: After each themed session, the three previous case study speakers will be brought back to answer delegates’ questions. This is your opportunity to put speakers on the spot - expect lively debate!

In summary, the conference programme will cover the following:

Positioning waterfronts in a competitive global market
Public Private Partnerships – balancing the agendas
Civic leadership - gaining political support for development
Funding development - attracting foreign investment
Social change and community development
Involving the private sector in community and infrastructure development
Responding to the changing living patterns/demographic changes/mobility of populations
The effect of geopolitics on urban development
Developing appropriate infrastructure for waterfront development
Marketing waterfront developments - locally and internationally
Urban design – creating “liveable cities” via a Spatial Development Strategy
Master-planned communities
Successful revitalisation/urban regeneration strategies
Sustainable waterfronts - ecology, economics and society
Waterfront architecture - an overview of latest worldwide trends
Preserving the industrial heritage of old waterfronts; themed architecture
Residential developments - getting the formula right
Creating waterfront retail malls - the retail "offer"; theory and practice
Leisure and the waterfront; theme parks, multi-recreational approaches
Working on the waterfront - The role of ports and marinas within a waterfront development