Waterfront Revitalization in Postindustrial Port Cities of North America

Abstract

SURPRISINGLY SIMILAR DEVELOPMENTS in planning, land use, and cultural life are evident in "revitalized" waterfronts in many port cities throughout North America. This article presents a cultural theory of waterfront redevelopment, viewing the process as a characteristic response of similarly situated postindustrial port cities to international economic restructuring, technological obsolescence of port facilities, and corporatization. Major themes in revitalized waterfronts—environmentalism, history and heritage, and tourism and festival —serve to connect newcomer elite groups to a changing urban environment, by reconceptualizing the relationship of the city toward nature, the past, and work, [port cities, urban renewal, waterfronts, postindustrialism]