The City of Bakar has transformed part of its waterfront which until recently was used exclusively for industrial purposes. Intervention resulted in a modernly designed public space. Although it seems that there are no comparable features with a developed and large city like New York, this paper will present two case studies that prove the opposite. The aim of the paper is to present the comparison and results of two waterfront brownfield transformations. The research includes methods of transforming waterfront areas in such a way that they become accessible to citizens and significantly improve the residents' life and urban space quality. The paper presents the application of certain methods during planning, designing, and landscaping, as well as the comparative results of different scales of coastal transformation. Grad Bakar je uređenjem dijela obale kao javnog prostora na suvremen način transformirao prostor obale koji se donedavno koristio isključivo u industrijske svrhe. Iako se čini da s razvijenim i velikim gradom poput New Yorka nema usporedivih značajki, u ovome će se radu prikazati dvije studije slučaja koje dokazuju suprotno. Cilj rada je prikazati usporedbu i rezultate dviju transformacija industrijskog obalnog područja. Istraživanje obuhvaća metode transformacije obalnih prostora na način da postanu građanima dostupni i značajno utječu na poboljšanje kvalitete života stanovnika i urbanog prostora grada. U radu se prikazuju primjene određenih metoda prilikom planiranja, projektiranja i uređenja prostora, kao i usporedivi rezultati različitih mjerila transformacije obale.