On March 5 &6, the River Port Cities working group held its second workshop in the city of Seville (Spain), along with AIVP member the port of Seville.

The first day began with the signing of the AIVP Agenda 2030 by the Port of Seville, represented by its President Rafael Carmona, and the AIVP represented by José Sanchez, Director of Agenda 2030.

The port then presented its Urban-Port District project along with EDDEA City Thinking, in charge of drawing up the master plan for this major urban transformation, and a representative of Seville City Council’s urban planning department, who explained the city’s century-old relationship with its river, between adaptation to the threat of flooding and opportunities linked to the river.

A tour of the site awaiting transformation gave participants an idea of the scale of the area to be developed and the port heritage at the heart of the project.

Lunch in the port museum provided an opportunity to discover the history of the port and some of the machinery used throughout its history.

In the afternoon, presentations by the Port of Strasbourg, CNR and Métropole de Lyon, as well as the Communauté urbaine de Douala, gave an insight into the initiatives underway to develop river port activities in order to better integrate them into the urban fabric, as well as to meet the challenges of energy and climate change.

The day ended with a visit to the Torre del Oro, an emblematic building on the banks of the Guadalquivir, and a dinner featuring local gastronomy.

After the brilliant exchanges from the day before, the group started the day with a workshop aiming to showcase study cases on circular economy and biodiversity management. The Port of Sevilla showcased their project that was rewarded by the ESPO award in 2024. Our member Ecocéan presented its solutions to help bring nature and biodiversity in port city territories and more specifically the very successful set-ups in the port of Brussels, also present in the event.

Jean Debrie, professor at Paris 1 later presented POPSU, a French program aiming to bring together researchers, local authorities and all the stakeholders of the bigger cities to develop public actions that are research and community-based. He more specifically presented the part of the national program that focuses on the river aspect of metropolitan areas and its research objectives.

The last workshop touched on the very important topic of managing uses along the waterways. It figured Rijkswaterstaat presenting the Connected River, and more specifically the experimentation developed by the Municipality of Nijmegen along the Spiegwaal and in Amsterdam with the River Ij.

Our member the Port Autonome de Namur then presented their different initiatives to get work with their ecosystem, including the Contrat de Rivière de la Haute Meuse they are part in. By its very innovative nature, it was an inspiration.

The participant could later think together on those key topics of governance and water uses, sharing thoughts and ideas for the future.

To conclude remarkably these very rich two days, the Port of Seville organized a boat tour along the city center, the future Urban Port District and up until its container terminal.

AIVP is very happy to have facilitated these exchanges and looks forward to continue the discussion!

For any question regarding the Working group, you can contact Noémi MENE (nmene@aivp.org)