Mapping waterfront (re)developments in Southeast Asia: Speculation, entrepreneurial urbanism, and blue gentrification

Waterfront (re)development projects have been prioritized by city officials around the world over the past several decades as a variety of public and private stakeholders increasingly compete for valuable coastal land. While academic research on waterfront redevelopments has expanded dramatically and examines the different motivations, types, stakeholders, and outcomes of these projects globally, English-language scholarship largely focuses on contexts in Europe and the anglosphere, with some attention paid to projects in China, Singapore, and a handful of other Global South cities. Despite the prominent coastal features of Southeast Asia and its fast pace of development, only limited scholarly attention has been paid to waterfront redevelopments in the region. In this paper, we identify waterfront developments launched over the past 15 years in 11 Southeast Asian countries. We point out several important trends in Southeast Asian waterfront developments fueled by massive waves of investment, including the increasing foreignization of urban space, which has resulted in speculative and entrepreneurial urbanism and blue gentrification, massive land reclamation, and limited public benefit. These patterns underscore the urgency of expanding urban research to account for the distinctive dynamics and implications of coastal urban transformation in Southeast Asia—not only in socio-economic and geopolitical terms, but also in light of the extreme ecological sensitivity of these coastal zones. • We review recent waterfront projects to map trends in Southeast Asian urbanism. • We identify three key themes: foreignization, land reclamation, and public benefits. • We note the role of speculative urbanism in driving large-scale coastal transformation. • Climate adaptation discourse often masks ecological and social risks. • Geopolitical stakes shape waterfront development across the region.