Project part-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund)

The Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme


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The authors are solely responsible for the content of this report. Material included herein does not represent the opinion of the European Community, and the European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of it.
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Development / implementation of a new communication concept

Authors:

by Manfred Meine, Kirsten Wolfstein, Jörn Gutbrod and Johanna Knüppel



1. 1. Introduction

In order to reduce the upstream sediment transport and to decrease tidal energy the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) and the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) set up an innovative concept for a new approach to sustainably develop the tidal Elbe. Besides an optimisation of sediment management and river engineering measures at the Elbe mouth this concept includes the creation of shallow water areas connected to the tide which are suited to moderate the tidal action. As a first step out of a comprehensive catalogue of measures HPA is creating a new shallow water area at a location called Spadenlander Busch / Kreetsand. At this site, located in Hamburg on the island Wilhelmsburg between the Norder- and Süderelbe, dyke realignment had already been carried out in 1999. However, the excavation of this high lying new foreland was not executed by now so that the area is not influenced by the daily tidal action today. Therefore HPA decided to transform the area outside the dyke as a tidal shallow water area with the overall objective of dissipating tidal energy. This project is designed as a pilot for a new river engineering concept and as an exemplary model for future measures of similar purpose. Additionally, this practical example of sustainable river engineering shall be used to improve the public understanding of the function of tidal systems and estuaries.
To foster these intentions and bearing in mind that, due to the understandable fear of the local inhabitants concerning dyke security and flood protection, the former dyke realignment was a drawn-out and hard fought process, HPA decided to set up a new communication strategy for the planning and execution phase of the project “Tidal area Kreetsand”.


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