The transformation and renewal of modern urban waterfront spaces necessitate re-establishing emotional connections between people and water, thereby enhancing place attachment in these areas. Recreation satisfaction directly reflects individuals' experiences and feelings of identification with recreational spaces and serves as a mediating factor through which physical environmental elements influence place attachment. This article focuses on the waterfront node spaces of Suzhou Creek. Based on 200 field questionnaire responses collected before and after the Waterfront Link project, the Kano IPA model is employed to investigate how environmental elements of waterfront node spaces impact recreational satisfaction and the differing effects brought about by the Waterfront Link project through a comparison of data from before and after. The findings reveal that after the Waterfront Link project, satisfaction with recreation in waterfront node spaces significantly improved. The factors influencing recreational satisfaction can be classified into expected elements (6 items), essential elements (7 items), attractive elements (6 items), and indifferent elements (4 items) based on their priority in affecting recreational satisfaction. A comparison of data before and after the Waterfront Link project indicates that the priority of three factors decreased while seven factors increased. Based on these findings, a strategy is proposed to enhance place attachment in waterfront node spaces, aiming to foster citizens’ sense of belonging and identification with these areas by refining the material environment and to provide additional reference for the renewal and development of urban waterfront spaces.