Placemaking at a time of changing port city relations

Abstract

Former port areas can host diverse urban uses, including maritime ones, providing space for new forms of placemaking at a time of multiple transitions (energy, digital, social) while paying homage to or even taking advantage of former maritime structures and historic access to the sea. This chapter argues for comprehensive approaches to heritage preservation and sustainable development in line with the UNESCO historic urban landscape (HUL) approach and its New Urban Agenda. It explores three examples of policy and design approaches to the preservation, transformation and adaptive reuse of historic water- and port-related structures in light of placemaking concepts at the edge of sea and land, between a working port and a living city. The three case studies explored here include Hamburg (Germany), Koper (Slovenia) and Valencia (Spain) and showcase, respectively, planning-led, urban design-inspired, and community-led approaches for heritage preservation as forms of ethical forms of placemaking. In conclusion, we point towards: (1) imagining how heritage practices that include urban scales in UNESCO heritage sites and other port cities allow us to develop sustainable futures in terms of the economy, the environment and society; (2) understanding that the dynamic relationship of ports and cities and the inherent risks in terms of preservation, reuse and sustainable development requires ethical forms of placemaking to accommodate the New Urban Agenda commitments and the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and (3) emphasizing, selecting and designing equitable forms of transformation in port cities that embrace culture, the environment and the economy sustainably.