Bratislava Danube Park

The presentation

The Danube, with its banks, floodplain forests, beaches, branches, and islands, is a strategic and fundamental natural element and bearer of identity for Bratislava, its inhabitants, and visitors. 

The natural environment of the Danube in Bratislava has been significantly altered and damaged in the past by urbanization, industry, international inland navigation, and hydro-power structures. A large part of valuable river ecosystems, as well as recreational areas, have been destroyed.

The idea of the Bratislava Danube Park was formulated and developed by a multidisciplinary team of independent experts, consisting of architects, urban planners, biologists, environmentalists, hydrologists and river engineers. The team consulted with experts from several stakeholders in the area of interest. The idea defines and describes the natural area along the Danube in Bratislava as the Bratislava Danube Park (BDP), which is intended to serve people for relaxation and leisure activities in the natural environment of the Danube in contact with the city, thus contributing to a higher quality of life for the residents and visitors of Bratislava. The idea at the same time respects and supports already existing small-scale nature conservation areas. 

Planned restoration activities

Three side arms will be reconnected to the main channel of the river or even completely revived. These planned river restoration measures will revive habitats for diverse forms of life, and increase river ecosystem resilience. Moreover, it will provide significantly enlarged areas for human leisure and educational activities in natural environment, including more attractive conditions for paddling sports (kayaks, canoes, paddle boards). These plans are in synergy with environmental goals of the European Water Framework Directive.

The speakers

Dr Vladimir Kovac - professor of biology and ecology, expert on river ecology 

Vlado Kováč acted almost 40 years at the Comenius University, last 10 years as professor of biology and ecology. His expertise covers fish biology and ecology, eco-morphology, life-history, morphology, phenotypic plasticity, ontogeny, evolution, and biological invasions. He was a team leader or member of several international research groups. He also acted as a council member of the Fishery Society of British Isles, as well as a guest editor of international scientific journals, e.g. Environmental Biology of Fishes, Journal of Applied Ichthyology, and Journal of Fish Biology. He published over 70 scientific papers in peer-reviewed indexed journals, and he is author or co-author of six scientific books (h-index 31 in Google scholar). He developed methods for evaluation of ecological status/potential of water bodies based on fish communities in Slovakia (Water Framework Directive). His current activities are aimed mainly at improving ecology of rivers in Central Europe, especially at the Danube region.

Dr Martin Misik - river engineer, canoeist, organizer of canoeing events and river restoration activities

Dr Martin Mišík is a hydraulic and river engineer with 35 years of professional experience. He has worked on projects in a number of European countries, most often in the Danube River basin, on the Danube and its tributaries. He also knows the channels and banks of rivers and streams as an active paddler and nature admirer. He combines theoretical knowledge with practical experience in perception of water flow, river processes and river management. Besides his professional career he became advocate of rivers, using his professional river engineering and river management knowledge, combined with passion for canoeing. Martin together with group of interdisciplinary experts in 2018 defined idea and principles of the Bratislava Danube Park and since 2023 he is member of NGO Bratislava Danube Park.

Attending the presentation

You can join the presentation via Teams. The presentation will take place on Tuesday 2 December 09:00 CET on Teams. Click here to enter the Teams portal.

The River Cities Network presentation series

The River Cities Network presentation series is an online platform for teams in the River Cities Network (RCN) to introduce their river-city case study projects to other members of the network and to an external audience. Teams have approximately 30 minutes to present their projects, after which there will be approximately 30 minutes for discussion. RCN teams that are interested in presenting can contact rcn@iias.nl.