The proposal of general principles of municipal stream valley revitalization and criteria of pilot investment choice on an example of REURIS project in Katowice

The subject of the paper is a proposal of principles collection regarding revitalization of municipal riverside areas, as well as criteria of place and pilot investment range choice. It was proposed to develop such principles of revitalization which would incorporate the questions regarding Nature, as well as social, economic and planistic ones. These principles can be summarized as restoration of the stream ecosystem functioning with simultaneous assurance of flood protection, increasing the cultural and recreational values of the valley, and the residential values of neighbouring terrain, as well as the sustainable use of the water-course and the adjoining terrain as constant factor of city landscape. The proposal was confronted with the project of local revitalisation initiative being implemented in pilot scale in Katowice within the frames of REURIS project. The use of principles and criteria was proposed in planning and assessment of revitalization of other valleys of small municipal rivers in Upper Silesia, and also in other regions of Poland and Central Europe.