In April 2006 Chora worked with Knowledge East to undertake a scenario game workshop to test the potential development of the Cross River Park Area of the Thames Gateway.

The Cross River Park area is fraught with difficulty. It contains brownfield, polluted sites, retail facilities, water and sewage treatment plants, sites for new housing projects, and rich natural habitats in the form of farm land, mudflats and marshes. Most of the area is also at risk of flooding. The Cross River Park area exhibits many of the difficulties both in the terrain and political complexity that are at play in the Thames Gateway region as a whole.

CHORA set up the workshop with invited stakeholders from Newham Council, Greenwich Council, Thames Water, Tilfen Land, Second Site, London Development Agency, Environment Agency, Thames Gateway London Partnership, Capel Manor, London Metropolitan University, Knowledge East, and Allies and Morrison Architects.

In one afternoon, eight different scenarios were played with stakeholders from different organisations. Issues included: the affect of industrial pollution on the local ecology; the lack of benefit to the local community of the proposed Thames Gateway Bridge; the impact of alternative energy production; the introduction of new riverside leisure amenities; the expansion of the sewage plant; and the result of regeneration on the local economy.

The examples shown here indicate how the process can play out potential conflicts and create strategies for future development.