The gathering of remarkable ships takes place every four years at the quays in Rouen (France), attracting millions of visitors. It is an excellent opportunity to give the general public an insight into the port and its activities. This year, HAROPA PORT is setting up a special “Port Center” pavilion that will be open to the public for the ten days of the Armada, from the 8th to 18th of June. Visitors to the pavilion will have access to a range of educational materials, including VR goggles with a virtual tour of the port infrastructures. There will also be talks and lectures daily, with contributions from professionals and scientists. The idea behind this unique temporary Port Center experiment was supported by the AIVP.

Six different projects are set to be launched on the waterfront in New York (United States), including in the district of Queens, to restore green spaces that were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. The NYC authority aims to fund parks that are not only more pleasant for the public, but more resilient and capable of withstanding storms. Some of these parks could host cultural events, as requested by local residents’ groups and elected representatives.

The Port Authority of New South Wales (Australia) will host 700 local school students at its Port Kembla industrial hub to learn about its’ operations and the contribution it makes to the local economy. The NSW Ports’ school outreach program will run over the course of the next few months and offer an engaging method to educate the local community and students in a fun and informative setting. Port Kembla was chosen as it represents an important and historic source of jobs in the region and is evolving in the trades that are occurring there: bulk agricultural, construction and renewable energy components.

Singapore’s Government Technology Agency has announced that it will spend US$2.4 billion over the course of 2023-2024 to support a greener digitalization and support the national goal of achieving net-zero emissions in the public sector by 2045. Digitalization is a key factor in helping the port and transport sector decarbonize through the use of intelligent monitoring, automated resource optimisation and digital twins to meet environmental goals but it is also expected that the carbon footprint produced from these technologies will grow exponentially by 2030. As Singapore has become a living laboratory for smart city solutions, it is important that it also maintains an eye on its carbon footprint from all sources.

The new call for contributions “The Port-Cluster Landscape: New Words, New Maps, New Strategies” will address the Port-Cluster Landscape to provide a spatial framework of the phenomenon and to develop a design approach to port clusters. The main goal of the call is the study of formal and compositional aspects of ports as infrastructures and of port clusters as exceptional spatial formations. This goal is crucial as it contributes to claiming the design of port infrastructure in the field of architecture. The deadline for short abstracts is July 3rd, 2023. Contributions are expected from PhD students, researchers, scholars, professors and professionals in the field of urban and architectural design, as well as social sciences. Proposed contributions will have to address at least one of the following research fields: New Words, New Maps, New Strategies.