On Monday 25 October 2021, the informative conference "CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT IN THE RESTORATION OF URBAN RIVERS" was held, organised by the Department of Civil Engineering of the Universidade da Coruña (UDC) and funded by the UDC Course Office (Vice-rectorate for Equality, Culture and Sport). This conference is
part of the activities of the MonRiveR project, promoted by the Cartographic Engineering Laboratory (CartoLAB) with the collaboration of the Water and Environmental Engineering Group (GEAMA) and the Centre for Technological Innovation in Building and Civil Engineering (CITEEC). MonRiveR works for the recovery and enhancement of the Monelos River as a space of social and environmental interest, encouraging citizen involvement to achieve optimal results. Therefore, the main focus of this conference will be the participation of citizens and stakeholders in the process of designing cities, and in particular, in the recovery and improvement of rivers located in urban environments.
The conference was developed with a session of lectures during the morning, where experts from different universities and institutions delved into the capacity of urban rivers as agents of transformation of cities. These conferences could be followed online through TEAMS, and the videos of the interventions can be viewed through the links to each presentation, available at the following link:
Jornada sobre la implicación ciudadana en la restauración de ríos urbanos
At the closing of the morning session, we had the participation of Mr. Jorge Luis Marquínez García, general director of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
During the afternoon, a route along the course of the river Mesoiro, a tributary of the Monelos, was developed to make its current state visible and to reflect on its recovery.
The outcome of the event was very satisfactory, with participation going beyond mere attendance at the morning and afternoon sessions, with many people showing an interest in keeping up to date with the project's progress.
The speakers gave talks on different approaches and disciplines, with the common theme of river protection and restoration. Thus, we were able to learn about the relationship between the environment and health, restoration techniques based on bioengineering, the importance of the participation of stakeholders in the design of projects, experiences in the application of nature-based solutions, the Parque Ciudad citizens' initiative and the main theme around which the day was centred, the recovery of the Monelos River. The MonRiveR project was the motivating factor behind the organisation of the conference, as well as the speakers' support for the project and the interest of the attendees in participating and getting involved.
This activity has also received the support of other organisations such as Emalcsa, the Association of Agricultural Engineers, the Habitat Naturalist Group, among others. In addition to the press, in particular La opinión A Coruña, which carried a report after the event entitled "Reviving the river that once was".