ABSTRACT
The urban waterfront and its relation to the city have undergone various cycles of structural change: front door, isolation from the city, deterioration and neglect, and redevelopment. These waterfront transformations, evident in coastal cities around the globe, demonstrate the continuous process that results from multiple forces acting in different ways in different environments. Waterfront, used as a place for production and transportation in the past, has been transformed as a recreational and visual resource in the post-industrial society. Planning and development strategies of waterfront revitalisation in the USA during the early 1960s has greatly influenced European cities in the 1970s and 1980’s and Asian cities in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. Many waterfront projects have been initiated by private capital and worldwide market economies have resulted in the emergence of an international style in urban design, irrespective of local contexts. Transfer of development strategies or policies without properly understanding the broader issues of waterfront change and evolution within the local context has resulted in the loss of unique opportunities
that waterfront locations provide. A comparative analysis focusing on the multiple roles of water in post-industrial societies, and the planning and development process is essential in order to grasp the many issues (and implications) at play in the process of waterfront revitalisation. This paper aims to investigate the role of water in shaping the urban form and project implementation strategy in different parts of world on a comparative basis with four key objectives. First, it presents the project background of each case namely Battery Park City (BPC), New York, Minato Mirai 21 (MM21), Yokohama and Central Wan Chai Reclamation Project (CWRP), Hong Kong, (Figure 1) and builds an analytical framework. Second, it positions water as an urban design element capable of structuring reclaimed land and integrating it with its surroundings. Third, it compares and contrasts the local design and development processes, planning legislation and development controls devised to translate those urban design parameters from master layout plan to ground layout, including strategies taken by implementing agencies in each case on a comparative basis. Finally, it draws some conclusions to help plan, implement and evaluate future waterfront developments.
