The legacy of WATERFRONTS

Every project reaches its final milestone.

The more interesting question is what remains afterwards.

For WATERFRONTS, the answer is not simply a collection of reports, artworks or events. It is a methodology, a network of people and organisations, and a different way of thinking about the relationship between culture, environmental change and community resilience.

Over two years, WATERFRONTS brought together artists, researchers, municipalities, cultural organisations and local communities across three European waterfronts: Gothenburg in Sweden, Lesvos in Greece and Zadar-Bibinje in Croatia. Each place faced different environmental realities, from sea-level rise and urban transformation to water scarcity, migration and tourism pressure. Yet the project demonstrated that while environmental challenges differ, the principles for responding to them can be shared.

The project was built on a simple premise: art can help communities understand environmental change not only as a scientific issue, but as a lived experience. By combining creative practice with environmental knowledge and community participation, WATERFRONTS created spaces where people could reflect on their changing relationship with place, contribute their own knowledge and imagine new possibilities for the future.

Those conversations resulted in much more than individual activities.

Across the project, communities participated in co-design workshops, artists developed new interdisciplinary practices through the Blue Residency, public exhibitions and events created opportunities for dialogue, and policymakers engaged with artistic evidence in new ways. Nine original artworks emerged from these collaborations, each rooted in its own community while contributing to a broader European conversation about climate resilience and eco-anxiety. These achievements represent an important part of the project's legacy. But they are not its only legacy.

Perhaps the most significant outcome of WATERFRONTS is the knowledge that has been distilled into resources that others can now use. The WATERFRONTS Toolkit provides a practical methodology for organisations wishing to develop arts-led responses to environmental challenges in their own communities. Rather than encouraging others to replicate what happened in Sweden, Greece or Croatia, it offers a framework that can be adapted to different places, cultures and environmental realities.

Alongside the Toolkit, the project leaves behind a rich collection of resources, including publications, artworks, videos, case studies and practical guidance that document not only what was created, but how it was created. Together, these resources ensure that the project's learning remains accessible long after the formal project has concluded.

Equally valuable are the partnerships established throughout the project.

Artists collaborated across borders and disciplines. Cultural organisations developed new ways of working with environmental experts, municipalities and local communities. Young people, residents and community groups became active contributors rather than passive audiences. These relationships have created foundations for future collaborations that extend well beyond the lifetime of the project itself.

In many ways, WATERFRONTS has always been about continuity.

The project encouraged organisations to think beyond individual events and artistic outputs, asking instead how creative practice can become embedded within communities and continue to evolve over time. This philosophy is reflected throughout the project's methodology, which defines success not by the size of an audience but by whether another organisation can understand, adapt and carry the approach forward in its own context.

That journey now belongs to others.

The WATERFRONTS website will remain available as an open resource, providing access to the project's publications, Toolkit, artworks, videos and other outputs. Whether you are an artist, cultural organisation, municipality, educator, researcher or community group, we invite you to explore these resources, use them in your own work and build upon the ideas developed throughout the project.

We also encourage you to continue following the WATERFRONTS social media

channels, where the partnership will continue to share opportunities, related initiatives and examples of how the project's legacy continues to grow.

And if the project's methodology, resources or experiences can support your own work, we would be delighted to hear from you. The partnership remains committed to sharing knowledge, exchanging ideas and helping others develop creative responses to the environmental challenges facing waterfront communities.

Projects end.

Communities continue.

The work of building resilient, creative and connected waterfronts continues with them.