The bustling riverfront envisioned for a tattered stretch of warehouses and parking lots in the South Bronx is still many years away.

But that has not stopped the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio from going ahead with a $194 million plan to improve the infrastructure in a 30-block area on the Bronx side of the Harlem River. The plan will include making streets pedestrian-friendly, replacing water and sewer lines, carving out a new park and expanding broadband access — all in preparation for future development that, for now, exists only on paper.

Though public investment in the city’s infrastructure is not new, it has often been an afterthought, especially in neighborhoods where development has been piecemeal. Now, as the city moves on its ambitious effort to build more affordable housing, economic development officials aim to make more infrastructure investments as part of a shift toward a more comprehensive, community-based approach — known as “placemaking” among urban planners — as they develop the city’s remaining tracts of available land.

“It’s not just about changing the zoning, it’s about improving the infrastructure,” said Maria Torres-Springer, the president and chief executive of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. “It’s literally strengthening the bones of the community.”