查尔斯顿半岛的总体规划为公共和私人开发提供了框架，旨在为滨水区带来新的活力，提供安全而引人入胜的环境，吸引居民、游客、购物者、和商人们来到历史性的市区。规划改造了路面的停车场，由两座整合的城市停车库取代，沿新的滨水公园确定了一系列关键的重新开发基地。

Sasaki接下来为七英亩的滨水公园制定了设计，将未被充分利用的库珀河滨水区转变成弯曲绵长且广阔的绿色空间，包括了沿水岸12000英尺的散步大道、休闲码头、遮荫构筑物、互动喷泉、草坪和座椅墙、以及葱葱郁郁的橡树林中的静谧花园。公园的中心是一座标志性的菠萝喷泉，借鉴了南部地区热情好客的传统象征。一座栈桥探入港口的深水区，提供了精品垂钓场所以及廊柱遮荫构筑物，包括传统的廊道秋千和座椅。对本土植被的恢复包括沿散步大道的现有滩涂草甸，彰显闲散的乡村生活方式，增强了滨水区的吸引力，并有助于保护河流的海生生态环境。

自从1990年开放以来，查尔斯顿滨水公园已成为城市地标和景观建筑业界的标志性建筑，获得了众多奖项，其中包括美国景观建筑师协会授予的梦想地标奖。公园成功的另一个见证是在公园即将开放之时，滨水边缘成功地抵挡了飓风的全力袭击，并作为拥有库珀河壮观视野的深受欢迎的散步大道，继续经受着时间的考验。

Sasaki’s subsequent design for the seven-acre Waterfront Park transformed the underutilized Cooper River riverfront into a long, curving expanse of green that includes a 1,200-foot promenade along the water’s edge, recreational piers, shade structures, participatory fountains, lawns and seating walls, and quiet gardens under a grove of live oaks. The centerpiece of the park is the iconic pineapple fountain, a reference to the traditional symbol of hospitality in the south. A pier reaches out to the deepest waters of the harbor, offering choice fishing spots as well as colonnaded shade structures with traditional porch swings and benches. Restoration of native vegetation, including existing marsh grasses along the promenade that showcases the “low country” way of life, contributes to the popularity of the waterfront areas, and serves to protect the river’s marine ecology.

Named after the former mayor Joe Riley, Charleston’s Riley Waterfront Park is one of the city’s most popular parks for tourists and locals. Since opening in 1990, Charleston Waterfront Park has become a landmark—both for the city and for the profession of landscape architecture, earning a breadth of awards that includes the coveted Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architecture. Another testament to the park’s success is that the waterfront edge successfully withstood the full force of Hurricane Hugo just prior to opening and has continued to stand the test of time as a popular promenade with sweeping views of the Cooper River.