Port cities and sustainable development : Distance-learning Programme in Spanish

In April 2023, the AIVP will launch the first edition in Spanish of its new programme of distance-learning courses, created jointly with the International Institute of Port Cities (IIPC), based in Chile. This programme is aimed at decision-makers who act and work in the Port City ecosystem. Sabah Zrari, Academic Director of the course programme and one of the founders of IIPC, and Bruno Delsalle, General Manager of AIVP, talk about this initiative, which completes the range of services offered by AIVP in the framework of its 2030 Agenda. How does this course programme fit into AIVP’s development strategy? Bruno Delsalle: With this new service, AIVP is extending its ability to support the development of port cities. Since 2019, when the AIVP 2030 Agenda was adopted by the members, many ports and many river and maritime cities have incorporated the 10 Sustainability Goals defined by the Agenda. Inspired by the good practices put forward by AIVP and all its members, these ports, cities and companies have multiplied their actions in such varying areas as energy transition, maritime identity, mobility, etc. To assess the results of these policies and these actions, AIVP is currently preparing a self-evaluation tool which will be available in 2023. It seemed an important step, in parallel with this diagnostic tool, for AIVP to offer decision-makers the chance of training for the complexity of the Port City ecosystem. That is the goal of this ambitious programme of courses. Can you give us an idea of the contents of the courses? Sabah Zrari: The programme consists of five distance-learning courses, each taught over a 6-week period. The first course addresses the Governance of Port Cities. This is really the backbone of the programme. It incorporates notions and concepts used in the social sciences (governance, governability, actors), case studies (comparative experiences) and empirical work (collecting information in the field), as well as a reflection on the notion of Renewed Governance (Goal 4 of…