Of other waterfront spaces: mixed methods to discern heterotopias

Abstract

In recent years waterfronts have progressively become the focus of local administrations, consultancy agencies, and private developers concerned with public health, city branding, and real estate development. Subsequently, they turned into central stages in which cities and societies can be represented, contested, and inverted. However, many questions remain unanswered concerning their capability to function as counter-spaces in the fast-changing dynamics of citizens’ encounters and recreation in global cities. This paper employs mixed methods to examine the context-dependent association between space and behaviours. The comparative analysis of four waterfront parks in Venice, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and New York sheds light on heterotopic sites’ production and use. Two models emerged: transient spaces of compensation and time-accumulating spaces of illusion. Beyond the novel research design, the significance of this study lies in validating Foucauldian-Lefebvrian heterotopology as an authoritative analytical paradigm for a critical interpretation of the urban.

Keywords:

• Waterfront
• heterotopia
• behaviour
• Foucault
• Lefebvre
• landscape analysis
• mixed methods
• park
• promenade
• James Corner

Acknowledgments

We thank the seven interviewees for sharing their time and valuable insights with us, and the anonymous reviewers for their critical reading of our manuscript and their constructive comments and suggestions. We acknowledge the excellent assistance of Liu Peixin, Shao Di and Yang Jie in collecting and transcribing behavioural data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research reported in this paper was financially supported by a grant from the City University of Hong Kong (Project No. 7005771).

Notes on contributors

Gianni Talamini

Gianni Talamini (PhD) is a professionally accredited Italian architect and Associate Professor at the City University of Hong Kong, where he teaches urban design and architecture. Gianni does research on the notions of symbiotic urbanism, spatial semiotics, and the relationship between society and space. He works for an environmentally innocuous, culturally leavened, and spatially just society.

Caterina Villani

Caterina Villani (PhD) is a distinguished postdoctoral fellow at the School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research investigates spatial justice and migrant urbanism in Asian global cities. Her work interlays the areas of social sustainability, policy research, spatial planning and sharing practices, aiming to combine multi-disciplinary approaches to envision more inclusive urban forms and processes.

David Grahame Shane

David Grahame Shane (AA Dipl, M.Arch Cornell, PhD) teaches Urban Design at Columbia University GSAPP and taught the City Planning course at Cooper Union (1992–2012). He has published and lectured widely. He is the author of Recombinant Urbanism (2005) and Urban Design Since 1945 – a global perspective (2011).

Francesco Rossini

Francesco Rossini (PhD) is an architect and urban designer and is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). In addition to teaching in the undergraduate and masters programs at CUHK, over the years, Francesco has implemented various placemaking projects in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila. His work aims to explore how temporary urban interventions influence the behaviour of the people by provoking new social interactions.

Melody Hoi-lam Yiu

Melody Yiu (PhD) is an urban designer and researcher with a focus on cultural institutions, architecture and public space. Her prior practice in urban design is recognized through award-winning projects of large-scale masterplans, sustainable development, and urban landscape. Since returning to Hong Kong in 2018, Melody has integrated this professional knowledge and insight with her interest in the cultural practice to pursue research on urbanism and cultural infrastructure. She is currently a lecturer at the School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.