water margins: 01

Local waterfronts have acquired increasing relevance to the economic development of cities, and in turn afforded themselves as key nodes in globalization processes and tourism development. A crucial aspect of the competitive repositioning of Asian cities in the global arena is the capacity of post-industrial waterfronts for urban and environmental regeneration. As these cities shift from industrial to service economies, the quality of their urban spaces become increasingly important. The visibility of waterfront areas and its access to other parts of the city become assets to the redevelopment of these places. As such, waterfront developments have attracted the attention of different bodies interested in varying aspects of such development.

The book discusses the driving forces and the resulting urban transformation of the urban waterfront spaces of selected Asian cities, within their economic, political, social and cultural milieu. Changes in public-policy governing land-use on the waterfront have allowed for the new spatial configurations, including the changing roles of actors and agencies in the transformations of waterfronts. Another focus would be the nature of public involvement and resultant benefit from these development and changes. The overall changing spatial relationship of the waterfront with the city is the main emphasis of the study. New spatialities generated by the redevelopment of the waterfronts have the potential to create new meanings for the urban spaces of the city. The book covers the findings of the research that compares waterfront developments in Yokohama (MM21), Seoul (Han River) and Singapore (Marina Bay and Singapore River) and situates these within the milieu of global urban waterfront transformations.

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