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PULSE – The Port-cluster Landscape: Developing a Spatial and Design Approach to Port Clusters

Young Researchers N. 247 – 2022 SOE
  • Principal Investigator: Beatrice Moretti
  • Department of Architecture and Design – DAD
  • Grant Agreement: SOE_0000001
  • Start date: 20 December 2022
  • End date: 20 January 2025
  • MUR funding: € 150.000,00
  • Keywords: port clusters, technical landscapes, coastal and marine environments, port-city regions and architectures, spatial stretching, logistics & morphological indicators, space-based methodology
  • The results of the “PULSE” project are available on the website PULSE UNIGE

Abstract

Globalisation, port expansion projects and the energy transition are driving port authorities to seek more space, to interact with hinterland logistics hubs and to restructure their governance. In this context, Port Clustering — the administrative grouping of two or more ports into clusters — has had a significant impact on the institutional sphere. However, the phenomenon has eluded the control of cities and its spatial dimension has been neglected: ports and cities have lacked the planning tools to act jointly along their shared boundaries and tackle coastal land consumption, the negative perception of the port, the need for resilient port-city infrastructure, and the regeneration of the port’s architectural heritage.

In line with the New European Bauhaus Initiative, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the NextGenerationEU programmes, the PULSE project – The Port-clUster LandScapE has studied the Port-Cluster Landscape – the spatial outcome of clustering – providing a spatial framework for the phenomenon and a design approach to port clusters.

Through the study of Italian port clusters in their early stages (the 16 systems from 2016), a questionnaire and direct collaboration with institutions, PULSE developed a system of indicators (12 spatial indicators, ‘Investigation’ phase); it used these indicators to analyse four advanced international clusters and produce multi-level maps of two Italian port areas, utilising cartography as a research tool (‘Crossing’ phase); finally, it developed project strategies consistent with the 10 objectives of the AIVP’s 2030 Agenda (the “Formulation” phase).

Alongside the establishment of a network of researchers and scholars specialising in this field, the project involved Assoporti – Italian Ports Association as an institutional partner, AIVP – The Worldwide Network of Port Cities as a content partner, and RETE Association for the Collaboration between Ports and Cities as a media partner. The results of PULSE have been published in numerous articles and in the scientific monograph *Landscapes of the Cluster. A Spatial Approach to Ports*, published by Jovis, Berlin, in 2025.

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