Waterfront Community Research Articles

Urban Revitalization in Small Cities across the Atlantic Ocean

City centers and riverfronts across the Atlantic Ocean have undergone substantial transformation over the last two decades. This paper analyzes walk-only precincts and waterfront revitalization in two pairwise cases (PCs) of small city exemplars on two continents in locations at about the same latitude but separated by the Atlantic Ocean. The argument is twofold. First, to be fully effective, city center revitalization interventions need to be coordinated with appropriate institutional programs to create collaborative management opportunities among multiple civic and business agents. Second, multiple cultural offerings, environmental amenities, and pro-active leadership positionalities have contributed positively to the evolution of waterfront community economic redevelopment opportunities in riverfront locations. The methods involved multiple site visits to cities of various sizes on the Iberian Peninsula and the Northeast of the United States at different times during the last twenty years, extensive literature reviews and syntheses, data analyses, assessment of policy priorities, and interviews with employees in various economic sectors, business owners, residents, elected officials, planning professionals, and community leaders. Two of the main conclusions are that, to be fully effective, the public space interventions on the Iberian Peninsula had to be coordinated with appropriate regulatory and institutional programs to generate collaborations with multiple civic and business agents and that the Northeastern cities have attempted to revitalize their riverfronts by conserving water-based and urban historic assets and amenities from further erosion due to downpours and floods as well as socio-economic and cultural transformations.

The Cooling Effects of Landscape Configurations of Green–Blue Spaces in Urban Waterfront Community

Optimizing the configuration of green–blue spaces is crucial in mitigating the urban heat island effect. However, many existing studies neglect to consider the synergistic cooling effect of green–blue space and its spatial comparison, focusing instead on individual ecological elements of green space or water bodies. Additionally, the relative importance of different configuration indicators and their marginal effects on the cooling effect of green–blue space remain unclear, with an identified need for the quantification of indicator thresholds for maximizing the cooling effect. To address these gaps, this study investigated green–blue spaces in 30 urban waterfront communities located in Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, China, and measured the scale, distribution, morphology, green–blue relationship, and built environment of these spaces. To determine the cooling effect, maximum air temperature and mean cold island intensity were measured using ENVI-met simulations. Correlation analyses and boosted regression trees (BRT) were utilized to identify the configuration indicators that affect the cooling effect and their action threshold. The results show that green space distribution and water body shape are the most important features affecting the maximum air temperature, with green space patch density (PD) and water landscape shape index (LSI) contributing 21.3% and 20.9% to the reduction in temperature, while the thresholds are 550 and 4.2, respectively. The contribution of green–blue space percentage is critical in raising urban cold island intensity, with threshold effects at 43%. These findings provide practical guidance for the efficient exploitation of the synergistic cooling effects of green–blue space and enhancement of climate resilience in coastal cities.

Urbanization, impermeable boundary and losing communal identity: A case study of the local waterfront community in Bangkok suburbs

Urbanization, impermeable boundary and losing communal identity: A case study of the local waterfront community in Bangkok suburbs

Operationalizing Urban Climate Justice: A Case Study of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York City

Cities are increasingly incorporating climate resiliency goals into planning, development, and sustainability efforts. Such efforts are often touted as opportunities to promote climate justice that will not only support adaptation and mitigation efforts but also improve local environmental quality and bring higher paying, green jobs to frontline communities. Yet many local community leaders and residents remain skeptical of the promised benefits of climate-resilient development in their neighborhoods, fearing that new investments will attract higher income earners, intensify real estate pressures, and contribute to green gentrification. This study investigates the synergies and tensions that are emerging as cities develop policy responses to address climate change, implement resiliency projects, and meet economic, equity and social justice goals. Through a case study of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a low-income working waterfront community in New York City, the paper explores community efforts to exert influence over two large-scale, climate resiliency-focused development projects. Data sources for the study include interviews with city officials, private sector representatives, community leaders and residents, participation in community events and workshops, and analysis of planning and policy documents. The study finds that an extensive legacy of community-led planning, the presence of proactive community champions, and grassroots mobilizations were critical factors that strengthened local influence over urban resiliency planning processes. It offers lessons and strategies for empowering local voices in community-based adaptation and resiliency efforts and for achieving climate justice objectives.

Water urbanism and “living with flooding”: a case study in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

ABSTRACT Water in deltaic settlements is generally treated as a hazard or threat to vulnerable communities. This study aims to explore the social and spatial practices of three communities in Cai Rang, in Can Tho City, Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The aim is to discuss how “living with flooding” can inform a water urbanism perspective that might be useful to planners and designers in other deltaic environments. A mixed method approach is used to uncover how households, clusters of households and communities cope with flooding twice a day during the wet season. Findings show that local residents occupy housing types and clusters that suggest a high degree of resilience to changing water levels, especially flooding. This work has implications for architecture, landscape architecture and urban design as it demonstrates how a low income waterfront community can work together to maintain water-related activities while accommodating changes in river and tidal flows.

Cultural identity of waterfront community markets along Tha Chin River: A case study of Suphan Buri and Nakhon Pathom Provinces

Cultural identity of waterfront community markets along Tha Chin River: A case study of Suphan Buri and Nakhon Pathom Provinces

Perceived Impact of Urban Waterfront Dwellers’ Forced Eviction on Housing, Security and Social Support System in Njemanze and Otodo-Gbame Informal Settlements, Nigeria

This paper focuses on the impact forced eviction has on the lives of urban waterfront community dwellers with regards to their housing, security and social support system. Its overall aim is to identify the level of impacts forced eviction had on the inhabitants of the urban waterfront communities and to highlight the need to view forced eviction as a major trigger for a humanitarian disaster. The focus was on two (2) urban waterfront informal settlements in two different cities in Nigeria, namely Njemanze community in Port Harcourt and Otodo-Gbame community in Lagos state. The survey research method was used in this study. A total of 150 questionnaires were administered to affected residents of Njemanze and Otodo-Gbame urban communities. The study revealed that the lives and livelihood of the target population were permanently damaged in one stroke by the singular act of forced eviction and that it provided the impetus for deeper housing problems and security challenges amongst others. It recommends that the government should understand that their first responsibility is to protect lives and property and against this backdrop, approach slum areas seeking community partnership in slum upgrading. Furthermore, the study strongly concluded that forced eviction does not lead to the eradication of slums, rather it causes a humanitarian crisis.

How Frontline Communities Can Apply the Tools of Fugitive Chemical Risk Research

This presentation will highlight how the principles and practices of community based participatory research can be used to enhance chemical exposure research, disaster preparedness, and community resilience. The speaker will illustrate the practical advantages of approaching fugitive chemical exposure research by building upon and supporting existing grassroots resiliency efforts among frontline communities. This will include methods of employing both formal data and community-driven data to address local concerns around fugitive chemical exposure. Examples will be given of how to empower communities in such research efforts, produce actionable research, and devise a research framework that serves both existing research gaps and locally-driven resiliency agendas. The speaker will highlight how such efforts are currently being used in a vulnerable industrial waterfront community in Brooklyn, New York and used to strengthen and advance several community-based resiliency efforts. This will demonstrate how fugitive chemical exposure research can be customized to reflect specific community needs while contributing and informing broader research and policy frameworks at the same time.

Add water and they will come? Demographic assessment of place-based canal-oriented development

Developers, policymakers and planners alike have examined ways to create pockets of greater urban density within a city’s core to attract new urban dwellers, bringing about a rebirth of the city. One example is the construction of a waterfront development to attract people and rebrand cities, which is limited by the geologic setting of an area that dictates the viability of a waterfront community. Thus, landlocked cities that do not have extensive waterfronts have considered potential water-centred developments via canal-oriented development (COD). This paper examines the notion of COD as an urban development driver through analysing census data and statistical analyses of seven COD sites throughout the USA. The results of this study show that three of the seven sites reveal statistically significant differences in demographic factors, with the other four having mixed significance. This work lends insight to academics and governments to determine the success of COD as a redevelopment tool.

A Traditional Community in the Chao Phraya River Basin II: Influence of Water Circulation on the Traditional Living Culture according to the Settlement Pattern

<p class="1Body">The remaining traditional waterfront community in the Chao Phraya River Basin demonstrates human adaptability towards modern conditions. Everyday practice in the traditional community complex is about living in harmony with all other aspects of the system to which it belongs. However, the intensity and speed of such changes are challenging these complex urban environments in contemporary society. With high dynamicity, this important amphibious lifestyle is gradually disappearing.</p><p class="1Body">This study is based on a qualitative approach, to examine the general pattern of amphibious livelihoods from past to present, including changes and processes of adaptability to declination. Investigation was implemented by reviewing secondary data collection and oral history and collective memory by the interview method.</p><p class="1Body">The results found that water circulation patterns have exerted influence on traditional daily life over several decades: river overflows in paddy villages, irrigation network of ditches in orchard villages, brackish water circulation in estuarine agricultural villages, wetland fishery in coastal fishing villages, north-south corridor river trading in riverport towns, east-west canal network trading in canal trading villages, and surface water livelihoods in the raft community.</p>

A Traditional Community in the Chao Phraya River Basin: Classification and Characteristics of a Waterfront Community Complex

<p class="1Body">Traditional waterfront communities are extremely significant in understanding the role and influence of the daily lives of an indigenous amphibious culture and are considered to be a counterpart of the contemporary community that would have existed in the past. This study gives a systematic overview of the traditional waterfront community complex in the Chao Phraya River Basin to identify the phenomenology and salient features characterizing the waterfront community through the analysis of the following: 1) features of geography and waterbodies; 2) cultural landscapes and agricultural activities; 3) urban components; and 4) architectural features. A total of 138 traditional waterfront communities were selected using the purposive sampling method.</p> <p class="1Body">Quantitative data collection was conducted using field investigation to collect and evaluate the validity of properties in actual conditions. The data were analyzed using a statistical analysis program to examine the similarity and correlation of the data set. To identify characteristics, hierarchical clustering and decision-tree analysis were used to group similar communities together and classify the complexity of a traditional waterfront community. Principal component analysis was then used to detect the true association between the relevant variables. In addition, qualitative assessment of secondary document collection, legislation, previous and present public policies, research, and criticisms were used to support the argument for statistical analysis.</p> <p class="1Body">The results provided seven clusters based on common preferences consisting of a market town, paddy village, raft community, waterfront market, comprehensive estuarine agricultural village, orchard village, and fishing village. These clusters show diversity in the cultural landscape, with agricultural activities exerting influence on the community complex, creating both direct and indirect association, with several significant variables.</p>

A Sustainability Assessment Framework For Waterfront Communities

It is predicted that the global phenomena of Climate change will have far reaching effects and implications on different local urban systems. For incidence, global average sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 36 cm by the 2050s, and between 9 and 69 cm by the 2080s. Waterfront communities are the first to be affected by such impacts putting them at high risk. Planning tools are needed to assist these communities and increase their adaptive and learning capacities in the face of diverse challenges to their urban sub-systems. The research investigates a number of sustainability frameworks and assessment rating systems for neighbourhoods and communities. It investigates the sustainable evaluation criteria carried out by three assessment rating systems. First is the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, USA), the second is BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, UK), and the third is the Estidama PEARL rating system (UAE).Examples of waterfront communities which applied the previous rating systemsare analyzed in order to determine the applicability and relevance of these systems to waterfront communities in particular. The research concludes with a proposed framework of indicators for waterfront communities. The similarities and differences between the different rating systems and featured indicators specific to waterfront planning applied in the analyzed examples, yet absent in the three rating systems, have informed the selection of indicators in the proposed assessment framework. The proposed framework could be an effective tool for the planning and development of a waterfront community in the MENA region. In order to validate the framework, theset of environmental and physical indicators were applied on the case study of Abu Qir waterfront, Alexandria, Egypt. Conclusions and recommendations are made that would enhance the resilience of this waterfront community and provide a comprehensive tool for its sustainable planning.

Innovation Management in Cultural Heritage Tourism: Experience from the Amphawa Waterfront Community, Thailand

This paper examines how innovation management could bring greater opportunities for cultural heritage tourism at the community level. A two-stage investigation using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with key informants and random, on-site, short, structured interviews with tourists was conducted to uncover the preconditions and categories of innovation that support cultural heritage tourism in the Amphawa Waterfront Community, a renowned tourist destination in Thailand. The results from the study suggest that the “willingness” and “capability” of those involved in a community-based cultural heritage initiative are key to fostering a multitude of innovations but may not guarantee its long-term success. A mind-set towards sustainability that considers economically, socially, and environmentally viable innovations is required for sustainable growth. A call for innovation management from this sustainable angle is proposed at the end.

Internet in Rural Communities

Honey Harbour in the Township of Georgian Bay has been identified by the Muskoka Growth Strategy as the number one community in Muskoka for residential growth. As a waterfront community with limited ability to expand geographically, the community looked to the Internet for sustainable economic development options. The question being: ‘if the Internet was available for the travelling public, would the travelling public use it, how would they use it, and what would it mean for the community?’Wi-fi was offered at no cost to the community, in the community centre with little advertising, to determine need. Its results exceeded the expectations of the community, stakeholders, and businesses, drawing traffic and attention to the community in the summer of 2014. The timing of the project was serendipitous, coinciding with funding announcements from the Government of Canada for small community development as well as broadband and connectivity.Keywords: Internet, rural, broadband, Wi-Fi, local economic development, connectivity

Change of culture of waterfront community Tumbang Rungan District Pahandut city Palangkaraya

Change of culture of waterfront community Tumbang Rungan District Pahandut city Palangkaraya

Developing Guidelines for Riverfront Developments for Malaysia

Rivers and water are important resources for human life, the environment and national development. In Malaysia, the importance of rivers as the focal point of cities was established from the early times of civilisation and will remain so. Population growth, economic growth, urbanisation and increased technology have transformed many Malaysian river systems from water industries into non water industries. Due to these changes, the functions of riverfront areas have also changed and the current pattern of riverfront development in Malaysia now focuses more on mixed-use development and recreation.To date, numbers of riverfront development projects are being developed in Malaysia for recreation, residential and mixed-use. Unfortunately, in most cases, the developments identified are not successful, having cost effects more than their economic value. Example are increases in water pollution indexes and rates of juvenile problems.The focus of this study was to identify the attributes of riverfront development, in order to develop guidelines for riverfront development for Malaysia. The findings of this study were based on interviews conducted with Government officers, Property developers, and the Waterfront community from three case study areas (qualitative phase), and from questionnaires mailed and e-mailed to property development companies listed under Bursa Malaysia (quantitative phase). The findings identified 18 attributes to be used in assisting developers when undertaking riverfront projects in the future. The attributes identified were then recommended to be used as guidelines of best practices of riverfront development in Malaysia.

The Emergence and Transformation Processes of Waterfront Community Markets in Tha Chin River Basin

In this study of “The Emergence and Transformation Processes of Tha Chin River’s Waterfront Community Markets,” the markets that originated generally in the reigns of King Rama V through to King Rama VII have been studied. The objective was to investigate whether or not the transportation networks and the spatial centrality had any association with the emergence and transformation processes of the Tha Chin River’s waterfront community markets. The framework of this study includes the research and analysis of transportation networks that affected the spatial centrality of the target markets. To assist the investigation, it seems reasonable to assume that the transportation networks and the spatial centrality had a direct bearing on the process of emergence and transformation of the waterfront community market within the Tha Chin River Basin area. Therefore, the study is separated into three periods using maps from the Royal Thai Survey Department as a means to demarcate the three different time zones namely, the first period (2436 BE – 2484 BE) which is shown by the map of 2455 BE – 2482 BE, the second period (2484 BE – 2505 BE) which is indicated in the map entitled L7017, and last but not least, the last period (2506 BE –2554 BE) which is illustrated by the L7018 map.

Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution (review)

Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution. By Benjamin L. Carp. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Pp. 334. Cloth, $40.00; Paper, $21.95.)Reviewed by Kyle B. RobertsBenjamin Carp's Rebels Rising is an intriguing study of political mobilization in the spaces of the colonial city on the eve of the American Revolution. It seeks to revitalize the study of cities as centers of revolutionary activity, following up the work of Carl Bridenbaugh a halfcentury ago and Gary Nash a generation later. Carp emphasizes the distinct roles that Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston played in the functioning of colonial British America as links between the metropole and the hinterland and as nodes for economic, political, social, and cultural networks. His focus on specific urban spaces as sites of mobilization adds a new facet to our understanding of revolutionary mobilization. Here he takes his cue from - while making his own contribution to - the work of historians as diverse as Elaine Forman Crane, Clare Lyons, and Alfred Young, who have argued for the distinctive experience of early American urban life. In colonial cities, the compact concentration of a pluralistic mix of people fostered a sense of communal interdependence that revolutionaries sought to tap. Interdependence could lead to independence if revolutionaries could only figure out how to enlist the cooperation of the city's diverse population while limiting the distraction of overly radical voices or the countermobilization efforts of Loyalists. Understanding and exploiting the geography of the city was crucial to this task.On the Boston waterfront and in New York taverns, mobilization occurred amidst political and social conflict. As traditional bonds of patronage, personal influence, and respect for social authority broke asunder and economic depression settled over Boston after the Seven Years' War, revolutionaries diverted the anger of the waterfront community from the actions of local elites to restrictive imperial policies to unite with them as a community of interest. Ritual (and extralegal) forms of waterfront justice - the banishment of royal officials, tarring and feathering, rioting, the destruction of property - were performed in and took their meaning from the spaces of the waterfront. In New York, by contrast, the enclosed space of the tavern offered more fertile ground for mobilization than the open spaces of the waterfront. A ubiquitous feature of the city's landscape, taverns served simultaneously as sites of crossclass inclusion and political exclusion. Taverns encouraged discussion and debate, reinforcing New Yorkers' reliance on legislative action and the printing press over the mob. The line between polite sociability and drunken anarchy was a fine one, and when moderates and Loyalists disavowed the disorder that occasionally spilled into the streets, radical revolutionaries gladly embraced it.Mobilization faced different challenges in Newport and Charleston. Despite the vaunted Catholicism of Newport's diverse religious landscape, age-old acrimonies stymied the formation of significant political alliances among or within the city's churches. Some, notably Congregationalists and Anglicans, embraced active, and opposing, political stances, but in general churches failed to mobilize their members. Significant mobilization of another sort, however, did occur in the parlor of Sarah Osborn, a humble widow. Evangelicalism, not imperial tensions, inspired Osborn to host religious revivals that attracted other white women and African Americans. Osborn's revivalism is an important reminder of the mobilizing power of religious faith in a chapter that tends to place the value of religion in its networks. The parlor of wealthy planter Henry Laurens in Charleston became the locus of mobilization of a more coercive hue. …

Tourism and waterfront renewal: assessing residential perception in Newport, Rhode Island, USA

The purpose of this study is to examine the perception of harbor residents on tourism and waterfront redevelopments in Newport, Rhode Island. In the summer of 1992, about 160 surveys were conducted of households located directly in the tourism district. The results indicate that by and large the waterfront community perceives the current traffic conditions, inadequate parking, lack of privacy, and commercial intrusion into neighborhoods to be the consequences of increased tourism. Negative attitudes towards waterfront renewal are associated with perceived difficulties in having access to the water, lack of affordable housing, continued marine pollution, and the proliferation of non-water-dependent uses in the harbor. Conversely, several favorable reactions raised by residents included increased property values, successful historic preservation, and the participation in tourist-related events and amenities. Despite their geographic proximity to the business district, the development activities on the waterfront and the opportunities generated by tourism, few residents feel they have benefited economically from these advantages. Currently, the political climate in Newport is such that a comprehensive harbor management plan can become a reality. It is hoped that residents will then have an opportunity to incorporate their issues into policies of the plan.