Relevance
While we may often regard river systems and their catchments as one-way systems – with upstream to downstream flows of water, sediment and pollutants – they are best regarded as two-way systems in the social, cultural and political context. What happens upstream affects those living downstream and so affected populations regularly look upstream to see what may have caused flooding or pollution in their local river, for example, recent flooding in Hebden Bridge being blamed on grouse moor management upstream, and poor water quality in the River Wye being blamed on intensive chicken farms. Whether these links are real or not is the object of scientific study, but from a socio-political perspective they can appear very real to those affected.
It is useful to look at not only the physical geography origins of a river but also its social, cultural and political aspects to better understand the views and relationships people have with their rivers, land and associated problems of flooding and water quality. This may include the broader recognition of vested interests between the communities/stakeholders involved.
Aim
The aim of this work package is to look at the social, cultural and political aspects of a river and existing research experience in participatory Geography Information Ssystems (GIS) to develop an element of spatial collaborative working with stakeholders up and down the River Aire catchment from its source at Malham Tarn to where it joins the Ouse at Airmyn. Similarly for the Calder, a significant tributary of the Aire.
Activities
We will:
- Develop and implement a Participatory Geographical Information Systems (PGIS) approach to upstream-downstream stakeholder dialogue
- Use existing participatory GIS tools for both online and face-to-face workshops with stakeholders and community representatives
- Map-Me.org and Paper2GIS tools will be used to facilitate stakeholder input to comment on and validate opportunity mapping with regard to possible actions or interventions throughout the catchment. Interventions will include evaluation of land use, flood engineering, Nature based Solutions, Natural Flood Managment and Sustainable Urban Drainage System proposals
- Results will be analysed and key themes and patterns extracted and integrated with desk-based models for validation and to identify commonalities and differences that need further consideration in the planning process
Team
Project leads – Dr Steve Carver, Professor Pippa Chapman, Dr Cat Scott, and Professor Joseph Holden, University of Leeds
Impact translation fellow – Dr Stephanie Bond