An increase in nontraditional uses of the waterfront in port cities has led to increased competition and conflict over the use of waterfront land. A multiobjective programming approach is developed for modeling land use decision‐making along the waterfront. The model is applied to the case of Charleston, South Carolina. Several waterfront regions where significant competition and conflict are likely to emerge among different user groups are identified by the analysis. Ways of using the model to facilitate conflict management among different user groups are discussed.