Waterfront Development

M. Davidson, Western Sydney University

Abstract

The unique qualities of the water/urban spatial interface have regularly meant that waterfront development has been distinct from general urban development. Historically, the numerable resources provided by the waterfront, things such as waste disposal, energy and transit, have resulted in processes of waterfront development throughout the globe creating distinctive urban landscapes designed to utilize them. However, over recent decades, previously industrial - and subsequently derelict - waterfront spaces have been redeveloped into urban spaces which are emblematic of postindustrial urbanism. Here, the resources offered by the water/urban space interface appear to have mutated, and therefore waterfront development has broken from traditional patterns.