Urban Management Studies in the Urban Regeneration Context

Document from the year 2017 in the subject Urban and Regional Planning, grade: PhD, Islamic Azad University, language: English, abstract: Urban waterfront regeneration started in the 1960s in the US, spread widely during the 1970s and 1980s throughout North America; in the following decades, it became a key factor in inner city redevelopment in Europe (Jauhiainen 1995). It reflects efforts in various cities around the world to transform the de-industrialized, derelict urban spaces of late-twentieth-century capitalism in such a way that these respond to the newly rising demands of the global economy and, thus, once again emerge as attractive sites for different groups (Merrifield 1993, Feldman 2000). In physical terms, urban waterfront regeneration often involves a transition from former centers of industrial production, with warehouses and manufacturing establishments, to places with promenades, shopping complexes, luxurious residences, gentrified neighborhoods, office towers, and the like.

In this respect, urban waterfront regeneration can be situated within the broader theoretical framework that focuses on multiple processes of globalization and its impact on the urban space. More specifically, this phenomenon can be examined within a context of growing intercity competition, of intense efforts to market cities and push them up in the global urban hierarchy. Hence, the very same analytical lenses used for the examination of efforts to host mega-events (e.g. Gotham 2002, Carmichael 2002, Owen 2002), promote urban tourism (e.g. Mullins 1991, Whitson and Macintosh 1996, Law 2002), or create various urban imaging strategies (Chang 1999, Waitt 1999) and the like can be employed to elucidate the case of urban waterfront regeneration as well. What makes the latter special and also perhaps explains the reason why a large segment of the relevant literature focuses on this subject has to do with the fact that, first, due to previous port-related and industrial activity, the process of de-industrialization often has its most visible impact in these areas (Marshall 2001); and, second, due to their proximity to water and often also to historic city centers, these locations are especially suitable to satisfy the newly rising demands of global capital and its managerial elite.