Sustainable urbanism: riverfront greenway planning from tradition to innovation

Humans have attempted to control nature since the dawn of time. This paper analyzes riverfront greenway planning in two continents with distinct geographic and climatic contexts: Central Arizona and Central Portugal. It is argued that both places had to innovate in urban design and nature conservancy to survive and flourish. A key finding is that traditions and innovations have unique idiosyncrasies endemic to the places where they are conceived, perfected and implemented. For innovations to travel, professionals ought to work with local communities to identify and implement more appropriate urban design courses of action.