Waterfront redevelopment: the fragility of local benefits

After decades of waterfront redevelopment, there is a crucial need to discuss what have been the economic and social benefits of such initiatives for port cities. Drawing a global snapshot of the current situation is difficult, however, due to the diversity of local contexts and redevelopment projects. Redeveloped waterfronts could be classified according to various aspects, such as their dominant function (e.g. housing, education, culture, heritage, tourism, recreation, business) or the governance structure of main projects in terms of actors and decision levels. Perhaps, a more useful benchmark of new waterfronts would focus on their ability to tackle crucial wider social, economic, and spatial challenges of the port city. Originally aimed at reintegrating the urban world after a period of separation, is the redeveloped waterfront a new enclave or a truly shared space, to borrow an expression from Brian Hoyle