Here are three snapshots of renewal along the rivers of Providence, R.I.:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Perhaps an urban design prodigy, Ari Heckman is a key player in revitalizing Downcity, a historic arts community in west downtown in Providence, R.I.

Heckman, 23, epitomizes East Coast trendy with a white, open-collared dress shirt under a sharp suit with curly, gelled hair and designer shoes. The Providence native studied city planning at Cornell University, graduating in 2005. He returned to his hometown to work at Cornish Associates, where he interned during school. He made a quick transition from the classroom to the boardroom for meetings with top business investors and city leaders.

Heckman works under Arnold “Buff” Chace, a well-known planner and developer in the area. Cornish is radically changing the face of Downcity by converting historic structures to mixed-use retail and residential lofts inside buildings vacated by businesses’ flight to the suburbs. Heckman lives an urban life at the Peerless Building, a six-story brick-and-stone building erected in 1873 that had been vacant since the mid-1980s before its makeover was completed last year. He hasn’t driven a car in months.

Sitting in Tazza, a coffee bar on the historic Alice Building’s ground level, Heckman remembers Downcity when blocks of buildings had windows boarded up. “City Hall is right there, the Capitol Building is right there – how could this be going on around them?” he wondered.

Cornish alone has opened up about 200 living units and more than 60,000 square feet of retail space in a three-block area.

So what led to the change? Several things, Heckman said. Developers made a concerted effort to target the district, and Cornish led the charge to institute governmental policy that allows financial breaks for developers rehabbing historic structures.

Uncovering the once paved-over rivers, he said, opened up pedestrian movement to Downcity from the city’s prominent East side. “There is probably a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the rivers being uncovered and what is going on here.”

A major challenge for Downcity developers is continuing to establish the link between downtown attractions such as the massive Providence Place Mall along the river, to Downcity.

“We need to learn how to connect the mall to this area.”

Online: www.cornishlp.com

Ask about the rivers and you will hear about WaterFire.

“It kind of brings the city together,” said Rich Maidman, 20, who has lived in the area about six years.

The Providence revival story is incomplete without considering the massive river-relocation project and exposure of the water once hidden by highway and train tracks. Multimillion-dollar buildings now dot the landscape along riverbanks. Even the Rhode Island School of Design sits along the Providence River, where saltwater meets freshwater.

But the river, while adequate for lunch-eaters and joggers, is brought to life several times each summer during a public-art event that attracts more than 50,000 people.

Created in 1994 by award-winning sculptor Barnaby Evans, WaterFire has become a nationally acclaimed attraction. The event uses 97 braziers in the three Providence rivers to illuminate the waters. Vendors and artistic performers combine with music to entertain those gathered along the riverwalk late into the night.

WaterFire Providence is a nonprofit arts organization funded by private, corporate and governmental contributions.

The rivers remain relatively calm during the week with runners, bikers, lunch groups and the occasional kayakers. But on those nights when fire lights up the river, the concrete riverbanks are shoulder-to-shoulder with onlookers. The city recently held its 200th lighting.

Online: www.waterfire.com

Gondolas add romance to rivers

Michael Moriarty and Kate Sullivan made the 50-mile trip from Boston to Providence – for a taste of Italy.

On a 36-foot gondola authentically constructed and shipped from Venice, they embraced and drank wine on a 40-minute gondola ride along the Providence and Woonasquatucket rivers.

In black pants and a black-and-white-striped shirt, Allen Days, a trained gondolier and owner of La Gondola, effortlessly steered the black gondola lined with gold trim. Moriarty and Sullivan relaxed and soaked in the 70-degree evening as the sun dipped behind the downtown skyline.

Halfway through the journey, Days stopped beneath a bridge, out of public sight, and belted out an Italian ballad.

Featured in the TV series “Providence,” The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, gondola rides have become a unique and popular downtown activity made possible only after the rivers’ revitalization. In 1998, Rhode Island Monthly named La Gondola the “best place to pop the question.” The launch point near riverfront restaurant Café Nuovo is marked with a prominent plaque declaring it “Gondola Landing.” Former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. dedicated the spot in 1997.

Sullivan said she took a gondola ride at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, but the Providence experience was more authentic and romantic.

“It was more than we expected.”

Online: www.gondolari.com