Sheffield’s Porter Brook Valley offers an opportuity to introduce a new blue-green link from the heart of Sheffield city centre out to the Peak District. Out in the suburbs and further out to the Green Belt the river acts as a continuous linear route offering residents in the suburbs easy access to recreational open space and nature. However this ends abruptly at Hunter’s Bar, when the river is channelled and obscured by urban devlopment. The river becomes flanked by disused brownfield sites and defines a lifeless, character-less ribbon in the city centre. This is partly due to restrictions for new buildings on land adjacent to the river which is liable to flooding.

 

By shifting focus towards the river as being a prexisting asset, and creating a new riverside route it can allow for free movement of people, facilitating a process of regeneration and revitalisation. Brownfield sites will be transformed into multifunctional open green spaces that attract activity, new business and burgeoning communities and rich culture.