Creating a Vision for Port Cities: Workshop and Field Trips

Port city territories offer a unique intersection of urban development, diverse communities, and waterfront environments—whether along the sea or a river—with characteristics unmatched by other cities. With deep connections between water, heritage, infrastructure, and port residents, these cities present both exceptional opportunities for growth and significant challenges. And to achieve this, they need a solid vision!

Their unique attributes are often overlooked today, resulting in innovation and development that neglect their rich heritage. Consequently, this diminishes the city's distinct identity and the potential gains for citizens, businesses, institutions, and the environment. In particular, it leads to missed opportunities for developing human capital and fostering social cohesion.

This 3-day workshop will help you explore a key topic: How can port cities harness their unique characteristics and heritage to develop sustainable urban spaces and foster engaged communities? And at the same time, how can they preserve the essential needs of port-related flows? At its core, this workshop is founded on the belief that port city territories, with their long history of resilience, are paradigms for sustainable development. By shaping the right vision using a value-based approach (and not only economic or technical), we can design strategies for spaces, infrastructures and institutions that facilitate sustainable environments and thriving communities, and will be recognized as valuable heritage 50 or even 100 years into the future.

How does this approach work in practice?

From the revitalization of the Seine in Paris to the rethinking of port functions in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, urban landscapes around ports are being redefined through multifunctional and sustainable design strategies:

Paris
Paris, in preparation for the Olympics, continued a process of reimagining the Seine as a swimmable river—a radical shift that required a fundamental rethinking of water management. Cleaning the river to the point where people could safely swim meant re-examining shipping routes and practices, sewage systems, and safety protocols. This transformation didn’t happen in isolation; it was enabled by a broader cultural movement that used heritage as a catalyst.

By leveraging its status as a World Heritage Site, the city successfully removed highways along the riverbanks, creating public promenades and making the Seine central to urban life once again. Beyond infrastructure, Paris took an unprecedented step in recognizing the river as a living entity, granting it environmental personhood to engage in the “Seine Trials” and initiate a civic movement around its governance. 

Amsterdam
Amsterdam faces a different challenge: the need to reinforce its historic bridges and canals to accommodate modern logistics. But does strengthening them for heavier trucks align with the city’s heritage? Instead of defaulting to car-based solutions, Amsterdam is exploring how waterways—once the primary means of transportation—can be reactivated for urban freight and circular construction. This shift acknowledges that heritage isn't just something to be preserved; it is also a catalyst for future development.

Rotterdam
In Rotterdam, as the port withdraws from the city center, new opportunities emerge to integrate creative industries with maritime heritage; and to develop new concepts for multi-functional ports – that are integrated into neighbourhoods. Since the future is uncertain, we need long-term strategies that ensure resilience to gain buy-in from citizens, businesses, institutions and government.

The challenge is not simply filling abandoned spaces with temporary cultural projects but fostering long-term economic and social ecosystems. Can the port’s next generation of entrepreneurs, designers, and craftspeople shape its future in ways that are both economically viable and deeply connected to the city's identity? 

What You'll Learn

- Identify the local and global challenges of planning for port city territories.

- Understand the role of shared goals and values to find overlapping needs and potentialities in port city territories.

- Apply novel tools and methods for the analysis and planning of futureproof port city territories based on shared values.

- Think about what it takes to communicate these findings to diverse stakeholders.

- Imagine a future agenda for your port city and devise the steps needed to get there.

Check this link for the workshop and field trips plan!