We find urban renewal projects to be both fascinating and inspirational. They showcase amazing creativity and reviltalise neglected neighbourhoods, underused waterfronts or even entire cities. Here’s a list of 20, about half of which are just getting started.

1. Built For Your Success
Specialises in cutting-edge
commercial property development
Author: Ruben Fuentes
www.istructaustralia.com.au

2. 20Noteworthy
Urban
Renewal
Projects

3. Urban Renewal
projects come in many
shapes and sizes

4. Some reclaim land alongside a waterway
and turn it into public outdoor space

5. Some create new urban landscapes
out of virtual wastelands
Before After

6. Some revitalise entire cities

7. We’ve chosen 20 noteworthy examples:
1. Plessis-Robinson, Paris, France 2. Embarcadero, San Francisco, California
3. Canary Wharf, London 4. Titanic Quarter, Belfast, Ireland
5. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Portland, Oregon
6. Promenade Plantee, Paris, France 7. Marina Bay, Singapore
8. Bilbao, Spain 9. Bethesda Row, Maryland
10. HafenCity, Hamburg, Germany
12. The Atlanta BeltLine, Atlanta, Georgia 13. Waterfront, Toronto, Canada
14. Hudson Yards, New York 15. Domino Sugar Refinery, Brooklyn, New York
16. Porto Maravilha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 17. Barangaroo, Sydney
18. New Centre of Lodz, Poland 19. City Life, Milan, Italy
20. RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane
11. MediaPark and Rheinauhafen, Cologne, Germany

8. 1. Plessis-Robinson, Paris, France 2. Embarcadero, San Francisco, California
3. Canary Wharf, London 4. Titanic Quarter, Belfast, Ireland
5. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Portland, Oregon
6. Promenade Plantee, Paris, France 7. Marina Bay, Singapore
8. Bilbao, Spain 9. Bethesda Row, Maryland
10. HafenCity, Hamburg, Germany
12. The Atlanta BeltLine, Atlanta, Georgia 13. Waterfront, Toronto, Canada
14. Hudson Yards, New York 15. Domino Sugar Refinery, Brooklyn, New York
16. Porto Maravilha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 17. Barangaroo, Sydney
18. New Centre of Lodz, Poland 19. City Life, Milan, Italy
20. RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane
11. MediaPark and Rheinauhafen, Cologne, Germany
The first half of our list have been completed
(or a significant portion is complete)

9. · A suburb 10km south of the centre of Paris
· By the 1980s it was full of run-down public housing
· This well-planned revitalisation project took about 10 years
· Public buildings, retail, schools, sports facilities, a hospital, parks, gardens, and affordable housing
· 7 parks and gardens (120 acres of green space)
· In 2008, the European Architecture Foundation named it
“the best urban neighbourhood built in the past 25 years”
1. Plessis-Robinson, Paris, France

10. · The eastern waterfront along San Francisco Bay
· Includes the landmark Ferry Building
· Is built on a seawall on reclaimed land
· The Embarcadero Freeway, damaged in the 1989 earthquake, was demolished
· It was replaced by a multi-use boulevard, public plaza, and waterfront promenade
· 100 acres of land was reclaimed and revitalised
2. Embarcadero, San Francisco, California

11. · One of the earliest examples of large-scale modern urban renewal
· The first buildings were completed in 1991
· 14 million square metres of commercial (HSBC, Citigroup, Barclays) and retail space
· Around 100,000 people work in the precinct
· Has achieved the objective of becoming London’s new business district
· Planning approval to double Canary Wharf’s working population over the next 20 years
3. Canary Wharf, London

12. · Belfast’s former shipbuilding district
· A rich history combined with cutting-edge technologies and planning approaches
· 16.6 hectares of the project designated as heritage or public realm
· Advanced communication & media technologies = a high level of virtual & internet connectivity
· Over 90 companies – including Microsoft and Citibank – already operating
· Development to continue over the next 20 years
4. Titanic Quarter, Belfast, Ireland

13. · 37-acre waterfront park (named for the Governor who gave it the green light)
· The first instance of a major U.S. highway being intentionally removed
· By the early ‘70s Harbour Drive had passed its use-by date
· The 4-year project to replace it with public open space was completed in 1978
· The space was doubled in 1999 when the park was extended to the south
· Credited with revitalising Portland’s entire downtown area
5. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Portland, Oregon

14. · The world’s first elevated park
· In the 12th arrondissement, just south-east of central Paris
· Built on an abandoned 19th century railway viaduct
· Runs nearly 5 kilometres and was inaugurated in 1993
· Shops and artisan studios below
· Precinct includes ground level parks & the Opera Bastille
6. Promenade Plantee, Paris, France

15. · Mixed use 360 hectare development
· Extends the downtown district to the southern tip of the island city state
· State-of-the-art infrastructure including five underground Mass Rapid Transit stations
· A thriving business district
· A range of attractions
· 101 hectare Gardens by the Bay Park
7. Marina Bay, Singapore

16. · Conscious transformation of an industrial city in decline to a modern, international destination
· Anchored by the iconic Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum
(cost: $US89 million; inaugurated: October 1997)
· Within 5 years, the economic impact of increased tourism alone had more than covered
the cost of building the museum
· Subsequent additions: a new airport, conference centre, concert hall, libraries, university
facilities, shopping centres, an underground rail system, a new stadium for Athletic Bilbao
· Many of the new buildings have been designed by renowned architects
· Emphasis on the preservation of heritage buildings and creation of green public spaces
8. Bilbao, Spain

17. · Suburban commercial strip just outside Washington D.C.
· Began as a ‘proof of concept’ by a real estate investment company
· Bought up several under-utilised blocks to turn them into a more walkable
shopping and entertainment district
· Started in the mid-90s and took more than a decade
· 50,000 square metres were repurposed
· A mix of shops, offices, restaurants, entertainment venues, residential
buildings and public spaces, including a pedestrian concourse
9. Bethesda Row, Maryland

18. · The largest inner-city development in Europe
· Regenerating a section of Hamburg’s historic port (including two islands in the River Elbe)
· Prone to flooding and storm surges (water levels rise and fall 3 metres with daily tides)
· Streets, parks and buildings are being built 7 to 8 metres above sea level
· Materials being used externally are easy to hose off
· More than 50 completed projects and another 50 underway
10. HafenCity, Hamburg, Germany

19. · MediaPark is on the 20 hectare site of a former goods station
· Media and communication companies, cultural institutions, a hotel and apartment buildings
· All around a central square and surrounded by parks and a small lake
· Rheinauhafen is set around the former commercial harbour, repurposed as a marina
· Has a footprint of around 15 hectares, 2 kilometres north-south along the River Rhine
· Features a handful of landmark buildings, including those of Electronic Arts and Microsoft
11. Media Park and Rheinauhafen, Cologne, Germany

20. The remaining projects are just in their
early stages or some way from completion:

21. · Proposed in a 1999 master’s thesis by Georgia Tech student Ryan Gravel
· His idea spawned a grassroots campaign, embraced by civic leaders
· A vision to transform and repurpose a disused 35-kilometre rail corridor circling downtown Atlanta
· Based on expanding and enhancing the transportation network
· Will be pedestrian-friendly, include additional greenspace, affordable housing, and art
· When completed (approx. 2030) it will connect 45 neighbourhoods
12. The Atlanta BeltLine, Atlanta, Georgia

22. · Estimated duration: 25 years
· Development area: 800 hectares
· Funding: over $A35 billion (public and private)
· Residential units: 40,000
· Employment space: 1 million square metres
· Parks and public spaces: 300 hectares
13. Waterfront, Toronto, Canada

23. · Being built on a platform above an existing and fully operational rail yard
· 17 million square feet of commercial & residential space
· 14 acres of public open space (50% of the project’s footprint)
· The largest private real estate development in the history of the U.S.
· A new neighbourhood in a prime position in Manhattan
· A combination of financial incentives for private sector investors & cooperation
from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority & the City of New York
14. Hudson Yards, New York

24. · $US1.5 billion redevelopment of five waterfront blocks
· In the historic Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn
· Includes landmark status buildings dating from the late 1800s
· Enhancing the connectivity of the community with the revitalised waterfront
· Developers permitted to build two 55-storey towers
· Must build 700 ‘below-market-rate’ housing units
15. Domino Sugar Refinery, Brooklyn, New York

25. · A 15-year project
· $A4 billion of private investment
· Aims to revitalise prime urban waterfront
· Restoring the region’s historical and cultural heritage
· A significant portion of the investment is for infrastructure
· 700km of water, sanitation, drainage, electricity, gas and telecommunications networks,
650km2 of footpaths, 17 kms of bike paths, 15,000 trees and 3 sanitation plants
16. Porto Maravilha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

26. · 22 hectare, $A6 billion project on the western edge of Sydney Harbour
· Inaccessible to the public for more than 100 years
· Unprecedented sustainability
· One of the first Clinton Climate Positive Development (net carbon negative) projects in the world
· Will generate more water than it uses, deliver zero waste to landfill, generate renewable energy
· Building rubble and other waste used to fill and reclaim the wharf area
17. Barangaroo, Sydney

27. · Many historic buildings have been neglected since the 1960s
· When industry moved out of the centre of the city, unemployment, crime and poverty took hold
· In 2006, the World Art Foundation proposed converting the city’s old power station into a World Arts Centre
· The Polish government was planning a high-speed rail line between Lodz and Warsaw
· Ambitious plan to reimagine and reconstruct an entire city centre
· The new underground central railway station will allow the two halves of the city to be connected
18. New Centre of Lodz, Poland

28. · A residential, commercial, entertainment and business complex
· 36 hectare site of the old exhibition centre a short distance from the old Milan town centre
· Primarily made up of three skyscrapers: the Straight One, the Twisted one and the Curved One
(designed by three world-renowned architects)
· Plenty of green space and a prominent cycle and pedestrian path
· Features the most advanced alternative energy systems
· One of the largest car-free areas in Europe (an underground road system takes vehicles to car parks)
19. City Life, Milan, Italy

29. · A regeneration project going on around the original anchor ‘tenant’ of the precinct
· At Bowen Park (just 1.6km from the Brisbane CBD)
· The Showgrounds is Brisbane’s premier entertainment venue
· The first Show was the Intercontinental Exhibition of 1876
· Project started in 2011 and slated to take about 15 years
· Includes a state-of-the-art convention centre, a major road, public spaces, a four-star hotel,
a commercial tower, retail & food outlets & 408 residences
20. RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane

30. Ruben Fuentes is the Managing Director of iStruct Australia Pty Ltd,
Australia's boutique commercial property development company
that is "Built for Your Success”.
Ruben believes that by cultivating broad interests across a wide
range of construction, design, development, and management
topics, iStruct is better placed to understand the needs of each
client and the best ways to meet them.
About the Author
Connect with Ruben on LinkedIn:
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Contact Ruben via email:
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Ruben
Fuentes