大象传媒

Billions has been spent in recent decades regenerating the ports and docksides of the world's cities. From Sydney to Baltimore, Lagos to Mumbai, waterfront redevelopments have transformed the environment, created jobs, and made it all look very nice indeed for visitors.

But do local communities, especially the urban poor, really benefit from the spending? There is controversy and protest over who the development is really meant for. In Lagos, protesters are demanding an end to slum clearances to make way for a new development.

Presenter Ed Butler speaks to Dr Philip Boland from Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, who has been studying many such projects, including in his own city, and has written a report on their economic impact. We also hear from planners in Stirling in Scotland, where a new development is currently being planned. And, we travel around the UK's coastline, examining how ports and fishermen may be affected, not by a new harbour, but by Britain's imminent exit from the European Union.

(Photo: Someone sits on the shore overlooking Manhattan in the neighbourhood of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)