Essentially, this paper aims at discussing the trends of waterfront development in the
context of the urbanised coastal areas, and the possible integration between waterfront
organisation and integrated management of the coastal area. To deal with this subject, first the
external environment influencing waterfront evolution is considered, focusing on global
change, the globalisation of economic systems, and geopolitical change. The diffusion of
waterfront re-vitalisation programmes is considered in the context of the urban growth of
coastal areas concentrating attention on the numerical increase of megacities and protomegacities.
The Ekistics theory, according to which urban growth will lead to the creation of
the ecumenopolis (planetary urban system) including the marine ecumenopolis (urbanisation
of all the coastal belts), is considered with the aim of foreshadowing the possible role which
could be played by maritime waterfronts in the course of the 21st century. The focus then
shifts to the waterfront itself considering the historical triggers for waterfront revitalisation
plans. In this context the waterfront functions are incorporated into the coastal use structure
by adopting a matrix-based representation. The expanding basis for conflicts between the
waterfront functions is emphasised.
Aframework of options occurring in waterfront development is presented with the aim of
responding to two questions: (i) how the waterfront may be designed to be consistent with
sustainable development, in that acting as a top rank spatial system conforming to integrated
management of the coastal area; (ii) whether and how the waterfront could act as a leading
spatial system to carry out integrated management of the coastal area within which it is