This week, City Limits has examined how New York City’s water renaissance is working out in two places that represent our waterfront past and present: Newtown Creek and Jamaica Bay. Here are images from both:

Don Riepe of the American Littoral Society navigates the Bay.

Adi Talwar

Don Riepe of the American Littoral Society navigates the Bay.

Broad Channel, the neighborhood that sits in the middle of the bay's vastness.

Adi Talwar

Broad Channel, the neighborhood that sits in the middle of the bay's vastness.

The A train shoots over the bay, connecting Rockaway Peninsula to the subway system.

Adi Talwar

The A train shoots over the bay, connecting Rockaway Peninsula to the subway system.

The Bay is a critical habitat for birds, supporting some 325 species.

Adi Talwar

The Bay is a critical habitat for birds, supporting some 325 species.

While the bay sits adjacent to several neighborhoods. access to the water is uneven at best.

Adi Talwar

While the bay sits adjacent to several neighborhoods. access to the water is uneven at best.

Willis Elkins of the Newtown Creek Alliance at a point in the creek where its industrial feel gives way to a distant view of Manhattan.

Guglielmo Mattioli

Willis Elkins of the Newtown Creek Alliance at a point in the creek where its industrial feel gives way to a distant view of Manhattan.

Active industry lines the creek, and any future recreational use of the water will likely have to coexist with commercial barge and boat traffic.

Guglielmo Mattioli

Active industry lines the creek, and any future recreational use of the water will likely have to coexist with commercial barge and boat traffic.

The creek already has a constituency of recreational users, although most observe the water from the shore. Avenues of access to the creek are limited.

Guglielmo Mattioli

The creek already has a constituency of recreational users, although most observe the water from the shore. Avenues of access to the creek are limited.

The creek is a federal Superfund site, which offers a complex mix of advantages and disadvantages, but certainly doesn't auger for a quick clean-up.

Guglielmo Mattioli

The creek is a federal Superfund site, which offers a complex mix of advantages and disadvantages, but certainly doesn't auger for a quick clean-up.

Like many of New York's once neglected and still polluted waterways, Newtown is something people have typically walked or driven over with little thought.

Guglielmo Mattioli

Like many of New York's once neglected and still polluted waterways, Newtown is something people have typically walked or driven over with little thought.