Reclaiming The Blue Vague: Activating Urban Waterways To Create A Sense Of Place

The thesis explores activating the water to manipulate the existing image in a post-industrial setting to address the perception of the boundaries that limit a connection with the water. The research design uses visual methods and an online survey, drawing on affordance theory (Gibson, 2014, Norman, 2013), to analyse responses to the disruption of the blue vague, a term used in this thesis to describe expansive, underutilized post-industrial waterways, prime for activation and integration into the city as a public space. This thesis argues that publicly accessible waterways are critical to a sense of place for post-industrial urban waterway developments.