This 1-day international on-line symposium (webinar) was held on Thursday, 24 November 2022 and co-organized by UNSW Sydney, School of Built Environment and Waseda University, Department of Architecture (Tokyo). The event was an occasion to discuss on the risk related to the current global warming and explore and compare possible strategies and solutions in the safeguarding of the coastal cities, the proposition of new visions for the re-use of the often-neglected urban waterfronts in terms of a more effective integration with the city whilst paying attention to the mitigation of the risks related with the effects of the unstoppable climate change.
The symposium was chaired by Dr. Raffaele Pernice and intended to foster knowledge exchange and share different approaches while detecting and interpreting the challenges and opportunities that coastal cities in Australia, Japan and elsewhere in a period of climate change and high sea-levels threats impacting the large urban waterfronts in the 21st Century. At the same time, it has fostered knowledge exchange and the sharing of different approaches through a cross-cultural comparison between Australia and Japan design and planning methodologies.
Reviewing case studies from Australia, Japan and overseas the symposium has made possible to explore urban design strategies that address infrastructure improvement, waterfront revitalization and redevelopment, and disaster mitigation caused by the sea level rise/flooding risks while utilizing this environmental threat as an opportunity to bring back waterfront to residents and raise their awareness towards climate change.
Proposed themes and case studies focussed on:
- Urban waterfront redevelopment: past and present approaches
- Waterfront regeneration: case studies and best practice (Australia and Japan; or overseas)
- City and the water: prototypes and possible futures in the 21st Century
A total of 8 selected international academics and scholar from Australia, Japan and overseas met virtually for the one-day event and present their research and join plenary discussion. The speakers were:
- Carola Hein (UT Delft)
- Helen Lochhead (UNSW Sydney)
- Raffaele Pernice (UNSW Sydney)
- Shaowen Wang (UNSW Sydney)
- Tetsuya Yaguchi (Waseda University)
- Ryoko Iwase (Kyoto University)
- William Galloway (Toronto University)
- George Kurumado (Takenaka Corporation, Tokyo)
Following the conclusion of the symposium, each participant will review and complete the essay which will be collected in an edited book for publication in 2023.
The website of the international symposium showcasing the abstracts, presenters’ profile, program, poster, Zoom registration is accessible at the following link:
https://conference.unsw.edu.au/en/repairing-waterfronts-in-the-age-of-global-warming
UNSW
Sponsors and acknowledgments:
- UNSW Sydney, School of Built Environment, Waseda University, Department of Architecture; Funded by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Australia-Japan Foundation (AJF) (Grant Ref. AJF2021113)
- Coordinator of the project: Raffaele Pernice