Urban Waterfront Promenades

About this book

Some cities have long-treasured waterfront promenades, many cities have recently built ones, and others have plans to create them as opportunities arise. Beyond connecting people with urban water bodies, waterfront promenades offer many social and ecological benefits. They are places for social gathering, for physical activity, for relief from the stresses of urban life, and where the unique transition from water to land eco-systems can be nurtured and celebrated. The best are inclusive places, welcoming and accessible to diverse users. This book explores urban waterfront promenades worldwide. It presents 38 promenade case studies – as varied as Vancouver's extensive network that has been built over the last century, the classic promenades in Rio de Janeiro, the promenades in Stockholm's recently built Hammarby Sjöstad eco-district, and the Ma On Shan promenade in the Hong Kong New Territories – analyzing their physical form, social use, the circumstances under which they were built, the public policies that brought them into being, and the threats from sea level rise and the responses that have been made.

Based on wide research, Urban Waterfront Promenades examines the possibilities for these public spaces and offers design and planning approaches useful for professionals, community decision-makers, and scholars. Extensive plans, cross sections, and photographs permit visual comparison.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Part 1 An Assembly of Waterfront Promenades
Chapter 1 Vancouver's Waterfront Promenade Network
Chapter 2 Classic Grand Promenades
Chapter 3 Beachfront Boardwalks and Promenades
Chapter 4 Riverfront Promenade Loops
Chapter 5 Park Promenades Along Former Industrial Waterfronts
Chapter 6 Promenades in the Shadow of Freeways
Chapter 7 Spectacle Promenades
Chapter 8 Eco-District Promenades
Chapter 9 Suburban New Town Promenades
Chapter 10 Promontory Promenades
Chapter 11 Classic Bridge Promenades
Chapter 12 Incrementally Built Central Area Promenades

Part 2 Patterns of Connectivity and Access
Part 3 Designing Waterfront Promenades
Chapter 13 Designing for People and Place
Chapter 14 Meeting the Challenge of Rising Water
Chapter 15 Reflections Appendix: People Volumes on Selected Promenades

Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Elizabeth Macdonald, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Urban Design in the Departments of City and Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture/Environmental Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. She is author of Pleasure Drives and Promenades: A History of Frederick Law Olmsted's Brooklyn Parkways (2012), co-author of The Boulevard Book: History, Evolution, Design of Multiway Boulevards (2002), and co-editor of The Urban Design Reader (2013).