Measuring Impacts of Urban Water Development1

Abstract

The role of water resources in the urban economic and social environment, particularly in the inner city, has never been established to the degree necessary for making informed decisions on investments in urban waterway and shoreline improvements. The basic tools for measuring psychological and social impacts of waterway and shoreline developments in the inner city have not been fully developed and utilized to date. However, through a detailed analysis of the water resources in the urban core area of Cleveland, it appears that deliberate development of water‐based recreation and other environmental resources can lead to improvement in some of the social problems of the inner city. In recreation analysis, there is currently a great gap between methodologies that are conceptually sound and those that have been applied by urban and water‐resources planning agencies. New tools and methodologies can only be used successfully when public agencies are given the institutional and policy means for using them equitably in light of social needs. Present urban‐water planning practices have been found to be biased against the inner city, often unintentionally.