Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden, capital of Västra Götaland County Region. It is situated on the west coast of Sweden with the port area located along the Göta Älv River. Due to economic restructuring, waterfront redevelopment emerges as an attractive option to boost economic growth of the city. The aim of this paper is to shed light on conditions of the transformation process of two neighboring areas: Frihamnen and Ringön. Publicly initiated and privately executed waterfront redevelopment in Gothenburg transforms industrial grounds into residential and service oriented areas in Eriksberg, Lindholmen and Frihamnen. The collaborative process of a “developer dialogue” crafts a redevelopment in a consistent way with taking into consideration city’s long-term planning strategy, specifi c needs and opportunities of the neighbourhoods, but also market and fi nancial realities of development community. Another example is a slow and spontaneous transformation of post-industrial areas in Ringön, where still active small industrial fi rms, services, cultural and artistic initiatives take place in the close proximity to the city centre. Results show the waterfront transformation attracts “developers’ dialogue” giving the opportunity to build a coherence for spatial, environmental and socio-economic development. Yet fragmented redevelopment of brownfi eld areas strengthen polarization between dynamic and carefully planned Frihamnen and spontaneously growing Ringön. This paper contributes to the knowledge on the complexity of urban post-industrial transformation.

Within this article a large scope of issues associated with development conditions and specifics of shaping the new image of Gdańsk waterfront was presented. The special attention was paid to its part situated within its central zone, located within the city centre. This area was playing a key role in development of the city, as within its boundaries many activities associated with shipbuilding and port industry were located. One has to mention that the Granary Island – a place located in the heart of the waterfront area – was an area of special interest for the port and shipbuilding activities, which relates also to the embankments of both Old and New Motława rivers. But the technological changes in the maritime transportation as well as wart-time destruction of the city decided about the major changes in structure of this area and shifting the port and shipbuilding operations to other sites located to the north from the city centre. Therefore, starting from the year 1945, one could observe the on-going discussion regarding the future of this area, although only in 1990-ties it was possible to actually start implementation of these ideas. At the same time – along with appearance of the demand for the types of apartments, offi ce and commercial spaces that are located on the waterfront – the urban space of Gdańsk waterfront has become interesting for both municipal authorities and developers. In result, a large amount of projects have already been implemented or planned, which contributes towards creation of the new, waterfront urban district of Gdańsk. Within its structure one can distinguish a number of particular sites, including ones still awaiting for their development chances. In the text of this article there were presented the most important parts of these plans, as well as future development directions of urban waterfront structures.

Three decades have passed since Magdalena Abakanowicz presented her concept of Bois de Nanterre — Arboreal Architecture, in response to a call for a broader reflection on approaches to urban landscaping and a reinterpretation of the meaning and evolution of the Grand Axis in Paris. This paper analyses the work presented by the artist from an urban planning perspective. It shows how the rich and multi-layered metaphor for the 21st-century city, embodied in the concept of the Bois de Nanterre, offers a pioneering and radical lesson for addressing contemporary urban problems.