Background

Most cities are located on a bay or lake, and they are crossed by rivers and canals. Their original location was most likely associated with the presence of water as places where trade routes converged and crossings had to be made, or goods had to be moved between marine vessels and land vehicles (break-of-bulk points). There are some cities that sit on islands (Venice, Stockholm, Hong Kong, and New York), some that are next to a large system of bays and inlets (San Francisco, Sydney, Seattle, and Boston), and others that deliberately created their own water-based systems in earlier periods (Amsterdam and Bangkok). It is not natural to build communities in a water-dominated environment because of the difficulties that this presents to land creatures, but it has been done often enough for reasons of commerce and defense. On the other hand, it has always been of great advantage to locate settlements in reasonable proximity to waterways for long-distance transport and linkage to other centers.

Bodies of water are obstacles in the daily operation of communities (blocking movement between land-based activities) and in the orderly, contiguous expansion of development. Thus, they have to be overcome by bridges and tunnels, if at all possible. At the same time, water is also a connector, allowing travel by rafts, boats, and ferries. After all, the cheapest way to move between two points is to float down a river provided that some sort of vessel is available, that it does not matter how long...