39 common issue in communities across the Mid Atlantic and Northeast. Established rail lines, only used infrequently for transporting goods, regularly constrain redevelopment opportunities. In most of these cities, additional infrastructure development, most often highways, in the mid 20th century were built directly along the riverbanks, basically erasing the river entirely. Changing this becomes a significant political challenge. “Communities can’t easily go up against the railroad lobby,” says Daniel. The same holds true when attempting to challenge decades of policy that have prioritized cars. Beyond the coordination challenges and environmental and infrastructure constraints, the greatest obstacle was building a shared idea of what change could look like. “When that vision doesn’t exist, it’s really hard to get funding, it’s really hard to get political alignment,” Daniel says. The early riverfront projects revealed that the work was not only about reconnecting people to the waterfront, but about fostering a public imagination around the region’s future. This is especially true since the river itself was a deep part of communities’ identities: reimaging the river is also about reimagining people’s sense of place. Small City Natural Environment • Feature • RiverWise
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