Report WS1. Il binomio “Città porto”: conflitti e sinergie multilivello fra trasformazioni urbane e competitività globale

The paper collects the best practices and considerations from two sessions of the workshop “Città porto: la dimensione multipla della pianificazione spaziale”. The leitmotiv of the first session’s reporters has been: the harbour, as urban gateway, origins conflicts, synergies and moments of cooperation with the urban structure. They’ve referred about North and South European harbours of medium level that, for advanced technical and logistic features and strategies of intervention, represent a substantial landmark for similar realities. Genoa, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Bilbao rehabilitation plans, despite their own peculiarities, have in fact dragged aspects of the industrial sector, urban design, identity, quality and sustainability in the planning process. The waterfront upgrading represents either the catalyst for transformation or socioeconomic development of disused and strategic contexts (for city’s competitiveness): the integration between the harbour structures and the city means upgrading and a new skyline, i.e. new “downtown scape” (Hamburg Harbour), or “flagship elements” (Bilbao). The second session has looked at the volume of traffic trades, the competitivity, the strategies and the imbalance between global and local that the harbour gives. According to R. Bruttomesso, the harbour, as a gateway, is evolving and complicating things. E.Musso focuses on the rise in volume of traffic trades and in competitivity: it’s necessary to improve logistics and relocate globally activities, keeping up both environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of the harbour. He proposes three strategies: spaces’ razionalization, governance and occupation. P.Grass states that Eastern countries’ horbours are more attractive, for their city-harbour system, upgrading approaches and competitivity. So, the redevelopment plans of Marsiglia, La Spezia and Santander harbours have a common goal: making the horbour a polyfunctional area, in contact with the remaining parts of the city.