Project Description

The majority of researchers and practitioners, in this field, have focused their work on the opportunities for redevelopment of old abandoned port facilities and port related industrial sites and brownfields. The wider social, economic and cultural implications of changing the waterfront, to the whole city in which the port was located, weren't fully investigated. Another generalized idea, particularly in cities with ports in their inner city, is to classify the port as an element of instability, disorganization and urban discontinuity. Current planning policies tend to devaluate the importance of the port, as an element of the city's competitive advantage.

Similarly, the challenges small cities are currently facing with technological progress, and the changing management practices ports experienced, are still to be fully appreciated and understood. These neglected perspectives, constitute the basis for the comparative assessment of four cities with sea and river ports located on the North and Central Regions of Portugal: Viana do Castelo, Matosinhos, Aveiro e Figueira da Foz.

The main conclusion refers to a profound interdependent relationship between the port and the city, that appears to have maintained, despite recent transformations in the four ports. Research findings presented emphasize the need to adopt sustainable, long term and responsive planning policies, tailored to local circumstances, and to the changing nature of city-port interactions. One factor detected was the failure to attract, on a consistent basis, water dependent and water related uses, to regenerated waterfronts. Waterfront revitalisation should pay less attention to leisure activities, and more attention to quality job creation, directly related or induced by port activities.

Research Team

• Paulo Pinho ( coordinator)
• Filipa Malafaya
• Luísa Mendes

Financial Support

• Fundação Luso Americana para o Desenvolvimento

Stage of Progress

• Concluded in 2001