ABSTRACT
People have been building walkways along city waterfronts for a long time, celebrating the water’s edge as a place for people to gather and to stroll. The walks range from simple paths to grand promenades designed to be major public spaces. Generously proportioned and often formally designed, grand waterfront promenades quite often come to represent the public face of their city. Some have long drawn visitors to them and their cities are famous for them. Questions about these long-standing and well-known promenades come to mind. How did they come to be? Why are they celebrated? Why have they been so enduring? What are their design qualities? Are they as wonderful now as they have been held to be in the past or does their reputation rest on past laurels? There are many things to be learned from the grand waterfront promenade stalwarts.
