Many American cities took shape around ports that provided outlets for trade and later facilitated the growth of industry as produce and heavy goods were shipped around the world from factories in Philadelphia, PA, Buffalo, NY, Chicago, IL and San Francisco, CA. In the late twentieth century these same cities—and others—rebuilt their waterfronts as new urban recreational and commercial centers.

With the end of the Second World War mobilization, waterfront landscapes became a grimy jumble of warehouses, factories, ships and piers that provided the dark and dangerous ambience of many film noir classics. Indeed, the gritty construction and labor conflicts of these ports remained a hallmark of urban success, epitomized in the classic labor movie On the Waterfront (1954). Deindustrialization, coupled with a shift to container transport that demanded different, centralized facilities articulated by trucking and train, changed this narrative radically by the 1960s. Rust and abandonment eventually claimed many waterfronts, while pollution choked rivers and harbors.

By the 1970s and 1980s, large stretches of centrally located post-industrial land and the recreational and aesthetic potential of reclaimed water began to experience large-scale revitalization across the US. Some projects made use of the functions and buildings of the older port areas. Fishing facilities in smaller ports (and occasional larger ones, like San Francisco) added color and culinary interest. Markets were transformed into festival marketplaces in Boston (Fanieul Hall), New York (South Street Seaport embracing Fulton Fish Market) and Baltimore, MD’s Inner Harbor, juxtaposing local historical themes with placeless tourist franchises and a smorgasbord of restaurants. A smaller city Savannah, GA, refashioned cotton warehouses into shops and services, while Monterey, California, preserved the literary landmark of Cannery Row. Elsewhere, ample pier buildings have been turned into restaurants, dance clubs and recreational zones. Through these facilities, many cities also covet the fame and markets of tourist cruises.

Other developments have reclaimed industrial space for public parks and plazas.

Aquaria, maritime museums and sports stadiums (Pittsburgh, PA, Cleveland, OH, Baltimore) have also emphasized the waterfront as a focal attraction for tourists and local residents alike. In some further cases, reuse of government/military facilities provides opportunities for new urban planning—Governor’s Island in New York City or Alcatraz and the Presidio in San Francisco. Even older recreational complexes that would be anathema to current environmental planning have taken on period charm in the attractions of the Atlantic City, NJ boardwalk (with new casinos) or the amusements of the Santa Monica (Los Angeles) pier (which has figured prominently in movies and television, e.g.

Falling Down, 1993).

Residential development also has transformed older industrial buildings while adding high-rise condominia and luxury hotels that combine convenience and views. The most successful cases create new cities within cities, in which yuppies support urban stores and services that become attractions for outsiders—the hallmark of Boston, Baltimore and San Francisco, among others. Waterfronts also provide strong images of the city for mass media—via both active urban life and dramatically framed skylines. As competition for tourists and investments eclipses past rivalries for shipping itself, other cities have achieved only partial success—an uneasy collage of malls and attractions amid crumbling toxic skeletons of the industrial city Even in successful redevelopments, disconnection from nearby inner-city populations and the socio-economic difficulties of deindustrialization beyond the port remain problems.