Waterfront locations have traditionally been perceived as possessing special qualities from real estate, urbanity and tourism perspectives. Many cities have developed on waterfronts and some of their most notable urban fabrics face waterbodies – rivers, canals, creeks, lakes or seas. Some small and mediumsized riverfront cities have been able to conserve or adapt their industrial era cultural heritage to new uses. In many cases, tourism has taken advantage of those locations for recreation, sports and community-oriented open-air events on the land-water interface (Bray, 1993; Kostopoulou, 2013). This paper provides a brief analysis of how three cities in upstate New York – Kingston, Albany and Schenectady – have attempted to promote more ac...