Macdonald - Urban waterfront promenades

Some cities have long-treasured waterfront promenades, many cities have recently built ones, andothers have plans to create them as opportunities arise. Beyond connecting people with urban waterbodies, waterfront promenades offer many social and ecological benefits. They are places for socialgathering, for physical activity, for relief from the stresses of urban life, and where the unique transitionfrom water to land eco-systems can be nurtured and celebrated. The best are inclusive places, welcomingand accessible to diverse users. This book explores urban waterfront promenades worldwide.It presents 38 promenade case studiesas varied as Vancouvers extensive network that has been builtover the last century, the classic promenades in Rio de Janeiro, the promenades in Stockholms recentlybuilt Hammarby Sjstad eco-district, and the Ma On Shan promenade in the Hong Kong NewTerritoriesanalyzing 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 responsesthat have been made.

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

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

Elizabeth Macdonald

First published 2018
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Macdonald, Elizabeth, 1959- author.
Title: Urban waterfront promenades / Elizabeth Macdonald.
Description: New York: Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016047545| ISBN 9781138824195 (hardback) | ISBN
9781138824218 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315740836 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Waterfronts. | Promenades (Pedestrian areas) | Public spaces.
Classification: LCC NA9053.W38 M33 2017 | DDC 711/.4--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016047545

ISBN: 978-1-138-82419-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-82421-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-74083-6 (ebk)

Typeset in Adobe Caslon
by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire

To Georgia and Dick Bassett

To Allan Jacobs

This book was inspired by the joys of walking and biking Vancouvers waterfront promenades every year since 2001, while sketching and painting along the way. I came to know the seawall and fell in love with Vancouver when I taught for an all too short year in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. The public life I have experienced on the seawall, along with the sheer beauty of the waterfront setting, has greatly enriched my life. This personal experience started me on a quest to learn about waterfront promenades elsewhere.

There are many people to thank. First, I would like to thank my students at the University of California at Berkeley, whose inquisitiveness, passion, creativity, and dedication make my teaching life so rewarding.

Most particularly I give thanks to two students who made invaluable contributions to the development of the book manuscript. Tamar Nativ helped create all the 1:400,000 and 1:40,000 plans included in the case study chapters and the 1:12,000 plans included in . She worked with amazing skill and diligence and I cannot thank her enough. Hyokyung Ryu helped with the process of creating a draft graphic layout of the manuscript for my use in communicating with my publisher, refined several of the 1:12,000 maps, and created the one for Seoul. His skill and humor under deadline pressure were and are much appreciated.

I am indebted to people who helped me conduct the research by hosting me in various different cities. My good friends Tony and Plu Dorcey introduced me to Gruissan, where I have enjoyed many pleasant days in their company on their canal boat, Tempus Fugit. They have also for several years generously let me housesit their Granville Island home in Vancouver while they travel, and this was an immense help to me in completing the Vancouver case study. Patricia Frithiof and the Jacobs-Frithiof family, Janet, Niko, Bjrn, Anders, and Johan, helped host me during my visit to Stockholm, making that trip very special. Jos Mara Urea and Paloma lvarez de Lara hosted me in Bilbao and guided me around the city. Jos Mara Urea, Borja Ruiz Apilnez, and Eloy Solis Trapero helped me gather GIS data for San Sebastin and Bilbao. Amy Jacobs-Colas and Dominique Colas hosted me in Paris, and have guided me around the city many times. Kathy and Rolf Wolter helped host me in Hamburg, and Judith Stilgenbauer helped me gather GIS data for that city. Jaime Lerner and Ilana Lerner helped make arrangements for my visit to Rio de Janeiro, and also hosted me in Curitiba. Hyungkyoo Kim helped make arrangements for my Singapore visit, guided me around the city, and helped me obtain GIS data. Sunjin Park helped make arrangements for my Seoul visit, helped me obtain GIS data, hosted me nightly with amazing dinners, and provided me with students who guided me around the city. These students included Hyokyung Ryu, Daehee Kim, Namhyun Kim, Hwi-seo Yoon, Dongwook Moon, and HongJun Yang. They were particularly resourceful at finding vegetarian restaurants for me to eat in and provided much welcomed laughter.

I would also like to thank the professionals and academic colleagues who generously gave of their time to talk about the waterfront promenades in their cities or issues related to promenades more generally. Particular thanks go to Joyce Drohan, Roland Kupfer, Scot Hein, Julia Hein, Frank Ducote, Susan Taylor, Larry Beasley, John Ellis, Joe McBride, and Kristina Hill.

A number of academic colleagues have provided me with mentorship through the course of my academic life, which has helped immeasurably. I would particularly like to thank Karen Chapple, Stephen Wheeler, Annette Kim, Betty Deakin, Louise Mozingo, Renee Chow, Michael Southworth, Peter Bosselmann, and Paul Waddell.

I need to thank the institutions that provided financial and other support for this project. During the research and book preparation, I was assisted by grants from the Committee on Research of the University of California at Berkeley, from generous research funds made available to me by Berkeleys Department of City & Regional Planning, and by a faculty research grant from Berkeleys Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning.