Author: AIVP
On sale date: Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Type of document: Report
Location: Europe : Italy : Naples
Language: English, French, Spanish

A working group called "Sudest", in the European "Urbact" network and led by the City of Naples, brought together for 24 months the port cities of Syracuse and Livorno (Leghorn) in Italy, the city of Matosinhos and the Port Authority of Porta de Matosinhos, the urban regeneration company of Oporto (Porto Vivo SRU) in Portugal, Le Havre in France, Istanbul in Turkey and Zarsis in Tunisia. The final conference of the project has just been held in Naples on the 10th and 11th July last. Olivier Lemaire, General Manager of IACP was invited to chair a debate on the issues of City-Port interfaces.

IACP has followed with interest the work of this group with which they have been associated from time to time. Besides, two of the expert specialists of the project: Rachel Rodriguez Malta and Arnaud Lemarchand, French academics associated with the IACP network, actively participated in the stimulation of the discussions as well as in the task of writing the resume of the final report and of a guide of good practices.

The Sudest working group had given themselves the objective of studying the opportunities and effects that the economic resources engendered by the presence of the ports produce in the transformation and the development of the cities. The work searched to identify the instruments set up by the cities to ensure a coherent development in terms of a territorial and urban planning strategy, of social cohesion and economic development. The projects at the city – port interfaces were especially studied.

The final conference in Naples was besides the occasion to discover the Neapolitan city – port projects that fall into the asserted desire of the city to become an unavoidable call for Mediterranean cruises. In the forefront of the historic centre, the port of Naples hence constitutes a strategic challenge of the highest order. The city and the port have thus been led to actively collaborate to implement a project that reconciles their reciprocal strategic interests. IACP will be following the development of the various projects under study with the greatest interest.