Throughout the developed world, urban waterfronts in port cities, in general, and docklands, in particular, are experiencing rapid and radical change. Urban waterfront lands that have become 'waste land'--because of changing patterns of world trade and cargo technology--are now emerging as high-status residential areas, and are attracting new industries, offices, transport and recreational facilities. Social, economic and physical transformation is now taking place at an unprecedented rate. Urban waterfront renewal and revitalisation issues have tended to gravitate towards centre stage, alongside such other coastal zone management issues as marine pollution and the implications of global sea level rise, in respect of public attention.
This book is, therefore, a useful addition to coastal zone literature. It claims to be the first to provide a comprehensive worldwide analysis of dockland revitalisation. It examines the process of change, how planners and urban managers have responded to the challenge it presents, and what the impact of change in docklands has been on inner-city problems.
The book is structured into three parts: Part I concerns Framework for Analysis; Part II examines Policy and Practice; and Part III looks at the question of Strategic Planning Issues. A wide range of case-studies are embodied within the book: from Britain (e.g. the London Docklands, Swansea, Manchester); Europe (Rotterdam); the USA (e.g. Baltimore); Canada (e.g. Toronto); and the Far East (e.g. Hong Kong).
The editors point out that waterfront revitalisation is a major challenge facing cityport planning systems in the late 20th century. The problems of redundant older port areas and associated inner-city decline were clearly identified in North America by the early 1960s. In Western Europe the need to resolve the dilemmas of derelict docklands 83