Emergence and Relevance of Urban Waterfront Transformations in European Cities in the Second Half of the 20th Century

Emergence and relevance of urban waterfront transformations in the second half of the XX century Ksenija Krsmanovic This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721933 Introduction •Through history, urban waterfronts have played a diversity of roles in our cities, from the primary usage of their water, to transportation, recreation and industrial purposes. Since recently, they are gradually evolving to become a catalyst of urban transformations •The significant turn has occurred in 1960s and 1970s when the industrial base ceased to exist and all the areas it was occupying faced the problem of the degradation, unemployment, emptiness and presence of vacant industrial buildings; •Consequently, there were big loses of the population in the central urban areas. The phenomenon gave birth to the appearance of numerous urban regeneration policies worldwide, with majority of them implemented exactly on the inner urban waterfront areas •Waterfronts are seen as an opportunity for cities to improve structurally and visually •Waterfront regeneration is gaining importance as an outcome of deindustrialization trends, sustainable and environmental development and globalization process •Projects are addressing issues such as sustainable development, search for urban quality, environmental improvement and urban resilience •However, the process is made more complex by the range of actors and organizations involved, as well as its local context and citizens participation •Key issues are seen in defining who the actors of the processes are, how are these new places created and finally who benefits from it 2 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721933 Historical development •First urban settlements in the Eurasian continent were created in river valleys, due to strong link of water as a resource for agriculture and also a mean for sanitation, transport and trade •Major urban developments connected to the presence of water started being linked to globalization process •Robertson (The Three waves of globalization: A history of Developing Global Consciousness)in its first wave, globalization in the sixteenth century spread through Spain, Portugal, England, France and the Netherlands, and was connected to expansion and mercantilism: COASTAL SEAPORT •Second wave in the 19th century, brought a demand for docks, ports and deposits located in the waterfront areas that were parts of cities but lost their larger significance as a public space: INDUSTRIAL CENTER •20th century: technological development led to relocation of the port and industrial areas out of the city center: DECLINE AND DECAY 3 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721933 Historical development 4 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721933 •The most relevant waterfront zones that underwent transformations at the end of 20th century, were those in inner city areas, created mainly in the second wave of globalization that occurred in 19th century Europe •Globalization and industrialization processes meant an extension of the port facilities in the urban area as well as surrounding infrastructure and numerous warehouses serving the port. As a consequence, large industrial areas on urban waterfronts were places of production, transit and storage that have lost their role in public life •Industry went closer to the water edge that made natural landscape and environment disappear from the waterfront areas. Waterfront became the no-go area in the city and the barrier for the citizens to reach the waterside Direct contact with shore Ports and docks formation Industrialization Relocation and abandonment Reconnecting city and its waterfront Historical development 5 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721933 Second part of 20th century •Riverfronts seen as less desired locations for international large-scale commercial projects as it is the case with seaports. However, from 1960s, urban riverfronts located in the central, historical sites of the city that usually went through deindustrialization and abandonment, were gaining big relevance as areas for regeneration. Therefore, at the end of last century rivers have been rediscovered as greenways of the cities •In 80s, economic growth declined significantly in developing countries, being unable in that way to cope with population growth. This was a radical change after 60s and 70s that presented decades of prosperity and growth, but were followed with rising problems of unemployment, lack of education, environment decline and lack of housing (Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future,63) •Waterfront urban area became abandoned, polluted zone with bad reputation left to urban decay. In 1980s, old harbor areas were an ideal sites for the development of the new urban milieus Planning perspective 6 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721933 •In last decades of the 20th century major changes in cities became evident and frequent, reflected also on urban waterfronts that underwent functional and morphological transformations •Actions focused on regeneration of urban economies and requalification of declining urban areas to new economic roles. Urban development practice shifted from social to more economic objectives and from national to international market competition •In that particular circumstances, city authorities world-wide were creating policies for urban transformations in order to tackle with ongoing social and environmental problems •Urban growth followed by an increase of population, inner-city decay and economic decline were the main issues that cities were facing and therefore, local authorities were resorting to urban regeneration strategies that found their major implementation at the inner urban waterfronts areas •The chapter of postmodern cities has been opened with international practices aiming to achieve a sustainable city •In this context of free market liberalism and tendencies for economic growth that spread around the Western world, planning has undergone changes towards the formation of a neo-liberal approach •Planning tendency was in correspondence with the big change in international policy for the city development and environmental protection that occurred after Brundtland report. In 1987, the General Assembly of the United Nations brought questions about long-term environmental strategies and agreed on the common need for a new type of growth that is socially and environmentally sustainable •“sustainable development that we are aiming to achieve, should meet the need of the present without compromising ability of future generations to meet their own needs (…) under the limits of technology, social and environmental resources that requires new economic growth and greater democracy in decision making process” (Brundtland Report, Our Common Future,1987,16) •harmony between humanity and nature became in the scope of the governmental aims together with citizen participation and ecological development 7 Planning perspective This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721933 10 Urban practices •The origins of the idea for waterfront regeneration lead to the North America. The attempts to bring the nature in the city through presence of the river as a blue corridor, bring us back to 19th century to the work of famous Frederick Law Olmsted. It was in 1860s when Olmsted and Vaux recognized the potential of the Riverside Chicago, followed with inclusion of Muddy River into Emerald Necklace 1880 •In following decades revitalization of riverfronts through landscape practices with the aim to provide public access and recreational quality started being largely advocated by the works of Simonds, Little, Houck •John Ormsbee Simonds published a book Landscape Architecture: The Shaping of Man’s Natural Environment in 1961 and undertook the study of the Chicago River in 1962. The proposed transformation of the area into pleasant landscape, was about to become a part of the metropolitan park system that would provide a recreational quality of the waterway •At the same time, Jacobs published “The Death and Life of the American great Cities” 1961, as a response to Moses’ attempt for urban renewal and introduced ‘social capital’ •Centrally located waterfronts started being core places of the urban renewal, nature restoration and recreation 8 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721933 9 “The waterfront isn’t just something unto itself. It’s connected to everything else.” Jane Jacobs Urban practices 7 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721933