Can Urban Waterways Become the Next Great Public Spaces?

Will Doig profiles the "early adopters of the idea that cities' rivers and canals, cleaner than they've been in a century, are ripe for recreational use." Active in cities like Los Angeles and New York, where coming into contact with the city's "natural" aquatic resources would have demanded a trip to the doctor just a couple of decades ago, these pioneers are leading the charge in redefining how their city's waterways are viewed and used. 

According to Doig, "public pressure, combined with new technological cleanup advances,
is changing some cities' waterways so quickly that they may soon be
unrecognizable. In fact, this transitional moment might be the most
intriguing time to explore such areas, especially for anyone who loves
the hidden and ignored corners of cities where few dare to venture -
those weedy, quiet, eerily beautiful abandoned spots that, just a few
years from now, might be jam-packed with backstrokers and jet skiers."

"Indeed," says Doing, "there's something about the potential opening up of these urban
waterways that sparks fevered interest. Maybe it's because, in suddenly
gentrifying cities, where forsaken space is quickly disappearing, they
represent a last wild frontier."