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Unlike sea ports with large land reserves, river ports often lack space for territorial extension. This common situation may explain why, for a long time, river port authorities were reluctant to give up any land for urban use in spite of continuous losses in traffic volumes and increasing pressures from real estate and public actors. In most cases, the urban waterfronts developed by their maritime counterparts have been rejected by river port authorities as an urban model that would merely accelerate the decline of the port or hinder later recovery. The Basel case study shows, on the contrary, how negotiations based on an ambitious urban project can be compatible with port redevelopment. This paper examines the strategies that will strengthen the position of Basel as part of a major transport corridor of the Rhine, and as a cross-border metropolis.