ABSTRACT
Waterfront promenades have a role to play in creating connected urban open space systems. There is a long history of thinking that urban parks ought to be connected into citywide park systems rather than standing alone as isolated places, in order to connect more people with parks and extend parklike experiences into the city. In the late 1800s, Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned creating park linkages with parkways. His vision was realized in some cities, but parkways evolved into scenic byways on the outskirts of cities after the advent of the automobile, and then into landscaped urban highways, and so the urban open space and park networks that might have been possible with them were largely denied. Linear waterfront promenades present another opportunity to link open spaces with each other and also connect neighborhoods. Once achieved, waterfront promenades are likely to be long lasting because when a public open space is created it is difficult to erase it with other uses. This was not the case with parkways because their purpose was to serve vehicles as well as link parks, and so in some cities those that had been built were later turned into arterial streets. Once cities have claimed their waterfronts for people and built promenades, the linear park connection is likely to remain.
