Governance commitments for sustainable port cities

Prof. Peter Hall, Professor of Urban Studies and Associate Dean, FASS Today, it is unquestionable that reaching a sustainable development model for our society, respecting the earth boundaries is (or should be) our main goal. Global initiatives like the SDGs and the AIVP Agenda 2030, inspire and impulse different actors towards this greater goal. But it is easier saying it than doing it, and there are governance challenges along the way, as Prof. Peter Hall shows us in this article. In the coming weeks we will focus on port-city governance processes to learn more about the difficulties that may emerge and the different solutions that ports and cities found to continue this path towards sustainable development. Throughout its three-decade history, the AIVP Network been a vital forum for the advancing mutual understanding between waterfront city governments and the citizens they represent, and port authorities, corporations and their business partners. AIVP has never shied away from telling an uncomfortable yet liberating truth; namely, that shipping ports and waterfront cities are inextricably tied to each other. A shipping port without a city is a just a harbour without people, place or purpose. A waterfront city without a port is just a residence without consequence, commerce or connection. This tough-love message has resonated in port cities across the world, and we have learned a lot over the past decades about how to “plan the city with the port”. The AIVP “Guide of Good Practices” consolidates and regularly updates this experience. Governments, semi-public authorities, private businesses or civil society groups draw on the Guide to improve the spatial organization, environmental and economic performance of port cities. With the adoption and adaptation of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the 2030 Agenda, AIVP has taken this learning forward in exciting and expanding ways. Les 17 Objectifs de Développement Durable de l’ONU The SDGs are remarkable because they inform 167 targets that are spelled out in precise and measurable detail. But knowing what outcomes to achieve is not enough,…