AIVP Venice 2023: 300 participants gathered to envision the future of port cities

The world conference of port cities closed on Saturday, November 18th, with technical visits to the port infrastructure of Venice-Marghera. It had a record international participation for AIVP events of this kind: 45 speakers and 320 registered delegates coming from 41 countries. The goal was to discuss a new model of relationship between port institutions, citizens, and stakeholders to overcome together the increasingly urgent challenges that every port city faces in a scenario of climate emergency and - in some contexts - also of economic and social crisis. Among the best practices presented were those of New York, Sidney, Dakar, the Caribbean, Maputo, Antwerp, and Marseille, just to name some. The message that emerges loud and clear globally and will be brought to the upcoming COP 28 is that in order to meet sustainability challenges, ports can act as a driver and accelerator for the green transition. More generally, they can deploy innovative solutions for more sustainable cities, as they deal with a much broader international exchange and technical innovation context daily but this will only be possible with the engagement of…