River Port Cities Facing Climate Change: Global Examples for Heritage-Based Sustainable Development

Authors

  • Noémi Mené Association Internationale Villes et Ports
  • Avicenna Tanubrata Institut d’Urbanisme et de Géographie Alpine & Association Internationale Villes et Ports , Association Internationale Villes et Ports
  • José Manuel Pagés Sánchez Association Internationale Villes et Ports

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2026.1.06

Published

2026-02-21

Issue

Water & Heritage for Sustainable Development

Section

challenges, concepts and new approaches

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Noémi Mené, Avicenna Tanubrata, José Manuel Pagés Sánchez

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

River Port Cities Facing Climate Change: Global Examples for Heritage-Based Sustainable Development. (2026). Blue Papers, 70-81. https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2026.1.06

Keywords:

river port cities, good practices, sustainable development, cultural heritage, climate change

Abstract

River port cities are on the frontline of climate change – as both part of the solution and as early victims of its impact, which demands new strategies for all river port communities. With several study cases, we explore how actions being taken relate to sustainability agendas such as Agenda 2030 of the Association Internationale Villes et Ports. We illuminate the role of heritage in maintaining and fostering identity, integration and sustainable development in port cities. In Strasbourg (France), we show how a port authority can act to improve the connection between port and urban activities, but also how port heritage can be used to educate citizens about port activities. We consider a more institutional approach to fluvial heritage preservation in the case of Lyon (France) and cases in Australia and Cameroon that show how local and port authorities can make efforts to respect local communities along the river and how those efforts can help them plan their development more sustainably. 

Author Biographies

  • Noémi Mené, Association Internationale Villes et Ports

    Noémi Mené has been working with AIVP for over two years as a Project Leader. She specializes in river port cities and sustainable mobility. Within the organization, she leads the Connected River project, an Interreg North Sea EU-funded project dedicated to ensuring the safe shared use of waterways and waterfronts. She also leads the Working Group on River Port Cities, bringing relevant members of the organization to work on their specific challenges. Before her work at Association Internationale Villes et Ports (AIVP) she worked for CODATU, an NGO dedicated to promoting sustainable mobility in countries and cities of the Global South.

  • Avicenna Tanubrata, Institut d’Urbanisme et de Géographie Alpine & Association Internationale Villes et Ports, Association Internationale Villes et Ports

    Avicenna Tanubrata completed his master’s degree in urban studies at the Institut d’Urbanisme et de Géographie Alpine (IUGA) in Grenoble by a thesis on “The Rhenish Port-City Interface and Its Regional Inland Waterways Connectivity” and an internship at the Association Internationale Villes et Ports (AIVP). He previously conducted research on synchromodality practices at the Port of Strasbourg, France and now works as a Project Administrator for Muehlhan Wind Service.

  • José Manuel Pagés Sánchez, Association Internationale Villes et Ports

    José Manuel Pagés Sánchez has been the Director of the Agenda 2030 for International Association Cities and Ports (AIVP) since 2016. He is an architect by training, with a master’s degree from Lisbon’s Technical University. His passion for port and urban development led him to pursue a PhD in Hamburg’s Hafencity University, completed in 2019.

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