EU Waterways Forward project

Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture's Landscape Interface Studio

The EU Waterways Forward (WF) project which brought together public authorities and other relevant institutions from 11 EU countries plus Norway and Serbia, has been an enormous success. 

Following initial funding from Kingston University's Enterprise Development Fund, the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture's (FADA) Landscape Interface Studio (LIS) has been closely involved in the development and management of the project's communication strategy, working with their client the Canal and River Trust (formerly British Waterways).

LIS acted as project communications consultants developing and managing a suite of social media sites, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and the blog, to support the project's aim to secure the future of Europe's waterways.

The Waterways Forward blog has proved particularly successful and is read in 108 countries. Glenn Millar, the Economic Development Manager for Canal & River Trust said: "The appointment of the Landscape Interface Studio to support the Waterways Forward partnership brings an imaginative multi-disciplinary approach to spatial planning with new media communication."

Waterways Forward blog

Viewed by 13,623 people across 108 countries worldwide with 95 followers and 119 posts so far – recent posts include:

• "It's time to make the added value of inland navigation more visible"
• WF Partnership Brussels Briefing
• Waterways Forward Project Update
• Waterways For Growth: Towards Europe 2020
• "The History of Europe's Waterways is Interwoven with the Adjacent Landscape" – a response written by Claudio Repossi
• Europe's waterway heritage – part of the 'cultural infrastructure'
• Tales of the riverbank: Vidzeme, Latvia river regeneration

Waterways Forward Twitter @waterwayforward

 

1,123 Tweets and 207 followers, including:

• Jonathan Faull – director general, European Commission;
• Sean Kelly MEP – Fine Gael MEP for Ireland South;
• Matthijs van Bonzel – Dutch ambassador to Romania;
• Ed McMillan-Scott – European Parliament vice-president for democracy and human rights;
• Daniel Caspary MdEP – member of the European Parliament;
• Gergely Polner – Head of Outreach for European Parliament in UK;
• EPP – official account of the European People's Party (EPP);
• Antonia Mochan – head of communication, networks and partnerships at the European Commission;
• Dr Mark Lang – chairman of Glandwr Cymru (the Canal and River Trust in Wales) and senior researcher at CREW Regeneration Wales;
• Remon Pot – hydraulic engineer, water safety and technology and researcher at Delft University; 
• James Greyson – head of BlindSpot Think Tank;
• Raya Kardasheva – lecturer in European politics, King's College London;
• healtheurope – valuable information from the EU institutions; 
• SocialEurope Journal – latest essays, columns, news and blogs published by Social Europe Journal;
• EU Regional Policy – managed by the European Commission's DG for Regional and Urban Policy; and
• viEUws – the EU policy broadcaster (independent video platform with in-depth analyses of European Union policy developments).

Waterways Forward LinkedIn Group

117 members with the Waterways Forward linking to 30 other LinkedIn groups – exposure to more than 227,653 LinkedIn members including:

• Biodiversity Professionals (4,895)
• Civil/Structural Engineering Network (25,012)
• Climate Care (1,710)
• English Heritage (2,736)
• Environmental Consulting Professionals (31,078)
• EU Funds (9,009)
• European Community Grants, Calls and Projects (15,352)
• European Consulting Network (ECN) (1,680)
• European inland waterway network (49)
• European Union Regional and Rural Development Participants (3,413)
• European Urban Knowledge Network (1,810)
• Heritage Conservation/Historic Preservation of the Built Environment Network (3,466)

YouTube

1,529 views – 19 films (animations, short films and partner interviews)

• Read the full Waterways Forward project short films review.

In addition, Kingston University continues to support dissemination of the Waterways Forward project. Read more on Kingston University's StaffSpace, our staff intranet (only accessible to current staff): Kingston's Waterways blog read in 106 countries.