Sea's role in city regeneration to be explored
Published On Wed 26 Feb 2014 by Grant Hill
The role that Dundee's historic relationship with the sea is playing in the city's regeneration will be explored during a series of lectures taking place at the University of Dundee next week.
The talks take place at the University's Matthew Building on Tuesday, 4th March. The event comprises three lectures designed to bring together students, practitioners and the general public around the management of our marine and maritime resources.
They will seek to illustrate how planning thinking and practice is changing to accommodate new societal challenges. The speakers will variously examine society's complex relationships with the sea and provide an opportunity to discuss how we manage our natural and built environments in sustainable ways, and how we variously value our heritage assets in transforming our city waterfronts.
It comes at a time when the city is undergoing its biggest construction project for a generation - the £1billion Waterfront regeneration - and attempts to grow and attract new industries that will form the basis of Dundee's prosperity in years to come.
Professor Deborah Peel, Chair in Architecture and Planning at the University, will provide an overview of the aims of Marine Spatial Planning and some of the challenges facing society's relationships with the sea at the first of the talks.
Chartered Town Planner Jim Claydon will then reflect on the delivery of marine planning in England and Wales before Belfast City Council Heritage Officer Robert Heslip discusses how that city is using its maritime heritage in relation to Queen's Island and Titanic Belfast to regenerate the city.
Professor Peel said, 'Debates around the sustainable exploitation of marine resources have highlighted a range of conflicts amongst communities of interest. Terrestrial planners have been at the forefront of identifying how best to plan for the use and development of the marine environment and managing the coastal-marine interface.
'The transformation of Dundee's waterfront provides an important context for considering our relationship with the sea. Bringing the Discovery back to Dundee was a major impetus in the city's regeneration. In Northern Ireland, the commemoration of the sinking of the Titanic was a catalyst in the revitalisation of Belfast, offering important opportunities to link past, present and future ambitions for the city.
'Robert Heslip will examine attempts to breathe new life into the former docklands of Belfast, balancing conservation alongside providing space for new industry, as we are doing in Dundee. Experience in Belfast involves both restoration and the re-use of the historic ship-yards to promote tourism, as well as accommodating new technologies and infrastructure to exploit the sea in new ways.'
'Issues and Challenges in Managing Marine & Maritime Environments & Heritage: Past, Present and Future' takes place at the Matthew Building from 3-8pm on Tuesday, 4th March.
This series of linked activities form part of the programme of events organised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of planning education at Dundee.
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Grant Hill
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University of Dundee
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