The Urban Waterfront:
Opportunities for Renewal
Traditionally, municipal governments have not focused a great deal
of attention on the city waterfront. The relative neglect of the
waterfront is remarkable in view of the fact that almost every major
American city is located on a navigable body of water.
This is not to suggest that urban policy makers have completely
ignored the waterfront. Public facilities, such as highways and
parks, are frequently situated on or adjacent to the water. The
band of highways wrapped around Manhattan in New York City clearly
illustrates the functional role that the waterfront has played as
a site for high-speed arterials. The urban renewal program served
as a catalyst for many development projects on city waterfronts;
however, these projects were oriented primarily toward renewal of
a blighted area which was only coincidentally on the water.
Despite the fact that municipal governments have been involved
in physical and economic development projects that affect the waterfront,
rarely was there an effort to systematically plan and upgrade the
entire area. Generally, there have been only a few cases in which
a city has treated the waterfront as a distinctive element in its
social, economic or physical infrastructure. A complex set of forces
has now emerged which clearly compels planners to consider the waterfront
as a fundamental element in the planning and management of cities.
These forces are state and federal coastal zone management programs,
the decline of urban port areas and a wide range of redevelopment
projects currently under consideration.
During the past decade there has been increased concern among citizens
and public officials for the protection of the nation's valuable
coastal zones. This is reflected in the growing public involvement
in the planning and management of these resources. At the federal
level, the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 authorizes federal
assistance to states' programs. At the state and federal levels,
the primary concern in the design of legislation has been on the
preservation and protection of natural coastal areas from the negative
effects of human intervention, focusing on development versus nondevelopment.
Planning and management has largely been defined in terms of protecting
those portions of the coastal zone that are still largely undeveloped.
Yet the task of designing these policies is of vital concern to
the metropolitan population that lives in close proximity to the
coast. According to the 1970 U. S. Census, 173 million persons,
or 85.9 percent of the total United States population, live within
the 30 coastal states. This population is largely concentrated within
76 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas with a total of 87 million.
A complex pattern of interactions occurs between the metropolitan
populations and coastal resources. The coast, as the site for a
wide range of recreational, industrial, residential and commercial
uses, is an integral part of the economic and social infrastructure
of a metropolitan region. An understanding of this interaction is
necessary if we are to achieve a balance between environmental protection
and human preferences and needs. Little attention, however, has
been given to identifying and understanding the demands for access
to and use of coastal resources that are generated by our large
urban populations which, in fact, constitute the source of the pressure
for coastal zone development.
Efforts to conserve the natural environment in underdeveloped areas
could very well intensify the pressures for development and redevelopment
in urban core areas. As new areas are foreclosed from major development,
the pressures for utilization of the already-developed portion will
become even more severe. The possibility of increasing the use of
urban waterfront space is enhanced by the present condition of most
city shorelines; major portions are underutilized and in an advanced
state of deterioration. This is primarily due to the changes in
transportation technology that have dramatically affected the magnitude
and type of activities.
Containerization, which has replaced the break-bulk method of moving
cargo, requires an estimated 30 to 50 acres of back-up space for
each container berth; an amount of land that is rarely available,
or is too expensive, at ports that are situated in or near the central
business district (where traditional port facilities were created).
Thus, new port facilities that are capable of accommodating container
ships have frequently been developed at different locations.
Changes in the pattern of passenger transportation - ocean liner
to air - have also influenced the level of activity at the urban
port. The substantial growth of the leisure cruise market is primarily
concentrated in fly/sail package tours, in which the cruise ships
depart from warm-water ports. Developments in surface transportation
have also altered the character of waterfront land use in urban
areas. Railroads, which were the primary mode for surface movement
of cargo until the construction of the interstate highway system,
were closely linked to port facilities. Railroad lines often ran
parallel to the city waterfront and railroad companies were major
owners and occupants of piers and waterfront property. The rise
of the interstate highway system has made trucking the predominant
mode for the movement of cargo to and from ports.
As a result of these changes, port activity in many large American
cities has been substantially reduced or modified. The major users
of port facilities - cargo and passenger shipping firms, railroads,
warehouses and port-related industries - have adjusted their operations
to meet modern locational and spatial requirements. The piers, terminals
and land areas next to the port, no longer used extensively, have
been neglected, poorly-maintained and often abandoned.
The impact of these processes can be seen on the waterfronts of
many cities. Perhaps the most vivid illustration of the decline
of a traditional port area is the west side of Manhattan in New
York City. Cargo shipping through the Port of New York and New Jersey
has grown in the past 15 years, but the west side has not participated
in that expansion. In fact, activity has declined dramatically with
the development of modern container facilities in New Jersey.
The decline is reflected in the current state of the piers. Of
the 36 city-owned piers still standing on the west side, none is
used for cargo shipping and three are part of the new Consolidated
Passenger Liner Terminal. More than tyro-thirds of the piers are
either vacant or used for storage, parking, or freight forwarding
and consolidation.
The deterioration of the waterfront has occurred in large central
cities, medium-sized industrial communities and older suburban towns.
All too often, this has contributed to a continued lack of concern
for and productive use of the waterfront.
There is now a convergence of interest and activity in the redevelopment
of the urban waterfront. Renewal is currently under way in several
cities, including Baltimore, Louisville, Portland (Oregon) and Boston.
San Antonio has received widespread acclaim for its two and one-half
mile Paseo del Rio, representing one of the most successful attempts
to link a city to its waterfront.
Waterfront renewal provides an opportunity for a community to pursue
a variety of objectives. Old warehouses can be converted into residential
structures: obsolete canneries can be transformed into curio shops
and tourist attractions; historical structures can be maintained;
parks and open spaces can offer relief from the noise and pace of
urban life. Most importantly, the urban economy can be enhanced
by generating new commercial activity on the site of unused piers
and by the increased value of waterfront property. The achievement
of these objectives presents a substantial and invigorating challenge
for the planning profession.
The magnitude and complexity of waterfront redevelopment is particularly
apparent in New York City where several large-scale projects are
now planned or under construction. These projects include: Battery
Park City, a $1.1-billion residential/office complex to be built
on 100 acres of land at the southern tip of Manhattan; Roosevelt
Island, a new town being built on a 147-acre island located in the
East River; and Waterside, an apartment complex built on decks which
extend into the East River.
Although the present economic circumstances in New York City are
likely to impede the completion of some projects, they do provide
substantial evidence of the transformation currently under way on
the urban waterfront. These plans reflect a nationwide trend in
the conversion of urban waterfront areas from port uses to large-scale,
multi-purpose complexes, emphasizing residential and commercial
uses.
The San Francisco Port Commission has recently granted a 60-year
lease for a $50-million development project next to Fisherman's
Wharf. In Philadelphia, the harbor where William Penn first landed
is being renewed in an extensive effort named Penn's Landing, which
combines a wide range of cultural, residential and recreational
uses. In Monterey, California, the old canneries have long since
given way to restaurants, shops and hotels. Marina del Rey in Los
Angeles County is an especially notable example of a multi-purpose
facility which was developed through public and private cooperation.
The county built a small craft harbor which has been developed through
a system of long-term leases to private firms. Chicago has been
especially active in planning new residential and commercial developments
on the Chicago River, and in designing a regulatory framework for
the protection of the Lake Michigan shoreline.
The scale and diversity of waterfront renewal projects stands out
in sharp contrast to the limited level of redevelopment occurring
in the inner core of most central cities. Increasingly, the city
waterfront is becoming the locus of the most extensive and imaginative
redevelopment projects currently under way in the central city.
Given the present condition of waterfront land use and the state
of building technology, innovative redevelopment is particularly
attractive for urban communities. The under-used structures and
large parcels of vacant land can be assembled without disrupting
existing neighborhoods or industries. Modern construction technologies
make it possible to create new urban space through landfill, piles
and over-water decks. In a time when few cities can expand their
physical boundaries through annexation or consolidation, waterfront
redevelopment represents the most viable alternative for the enlargement
of a city.
The redevelopment of the urban waterfront is also an important
planning tool, providing a mechanism for responding to the pressures
for use of coastal resources and the need to maintain viable economic
structures in urban regions. Economic development of coastal zone
resources has traditionally been considered to be in conflict with
maintaining environmental values. Waterfront redevelopment, however,
can be viewed as a vehicle for the inclusion of urban uses in coastal
management programs.
Both city and coastal agencies, therefore, must be made aware of
the vital role that coastal redevelopment can serve. Furthermore,
the design of federal programs must be directed toward city-oriented
waterfront planning and management. Finally, urban policy makers
must realize their responsibility to recognize, identify and evaluate
those areas of potential redevelopment. Without this combined set
of efforts, it will not be possible to formulate or effect any policy
or program.
Originally published in National
Civic Review, May 1976
Volume 65, Number 5
The National Municipal League