ABSTRACT
Port cities all around the world face great challenges as they seek to redevelop their urban waterfronts in the interest of economic competitiveness and place promotion. Research on urban waterfront transformation, since at least the 1960s and 1970s, has been concerned with changing politicaleconomic frameworks and waterfront revival; urban waterfront planning and design; spatial and land-use changes in waterfront districts; the role of history and heritage in waterfront revitalization; and ecological and environmental issues concerning waterfronts (Forward 1969; Gordon 1999; Hoyle 1994). Much of this research, by both researchers and practitioners, has been multidisciplinary and regionally comparative. Although waterfront redevelopment has many dimensions (Hoyle et al. 1988; Marshall 2001), it is concerned essentially with the spatial impact on the physical environment of proposals for new development and the spatial coordination of the various functions and activities that they would require in relation to the urban fabric at the all-important junction of land and water. In this connection, a morphologically-based inquiry into the modes of decision making that underlie the spatial character and dynamics of the waterfront landscape offers the possibility of providing a sound footing for accountable waterfront planning and design.
