Multi-scalar nature of port mobility beyond the port-city threshold. The case for two time-tested North-Italian port cities: Genoa and Venice

The issue of sustainable mobility is without doubt one of the prime challenges for port cities. From international shipping routes or continental freight corridors to the urban flows and passenger's movements, all these very different scales are interconnected and need to by harmonized. In this article by Systematica , we can learn from two Italian cases and their most recent projects to make mobility more sustainable. Systematica has been an active member of the AIVP since 2019. Sustainable mobility in port cities is essentially a story of integration. On the one hand, integration of local movements within international maritime corridors to ensure the seamless functioning of logistics and passenger routes at the global scale; on the other, it is the integration of port and city, which pivots not only on the coordination of land uses and the accommodation of new co-dependent functions between traditionally isolated realms, but also on the integration of local port activity within the wider mobility system in their respective urban and metropolitan contexts. Systematica’s involvement in the field of mobility for over 30 years has given the firm ample opportunities to contend with a diverse range of mobility problems in port cities of the Italian, European and international contexts alike. To elucidate on key insights from practical expertise, we explore the complexities of mobility management vis-à-vis the urban framework in port cities through the planning experiences of two major Italian capitals, Genoa and Venice, whose diverging contemporary trajectories are further enriched by historical conflict in 13th and 14th century wars over control of the Mediterranean Sea. The Cities in Figures Today, the two port cities (and their ports) have different competitive advantages: Genoa’s port activity is more dominant for logistics and ferry movements, while Venice’s port activity has higher cruise passenger volume. Genoa holds 17 percent of all container traffic in Italy, the greatest generator of container traffic in northern Italy and second only to Goia Tauro at national scale. Cargo movements from Genoa’s main ports in 2019 amounted to 68.1 million tons, which, despite a 3.2% drop from 2018 figures, is still close to thrice Venetian cargo movements, which stood at about 24.9 million tons in 2019. Conversely, Venice’s notorious cruise passenger movements of 1.4 million - the object of much conflict and debate in recent years - are half again as many as Genoa’s 0.9 million, unsurprisingly given the city’s number one national rank for visitors of tourism. When we look at ferry passenger movements, Genoa’s figures (2.1 million) tend to dwarf those of Venice (0.2 million) tenfold. Ferry movements for both cities, however, are relatively low in comparison to southern Italian ports surpassing 10 million movements at their peak. Considering differences in scale, it is important to note that Venice’s land cover of around 158 square kilometers (roughly 40% of the total metropolitan area) is nearly half the surface area of Genoa (240 square kilometers). Likewise, Genoa’s population of 570 thousand inhabitants, with a population density of 2,377 inhabitants per square kilometer is significantly higher than Venice’s 260 thousand inhabitants and density of around 623 inhabitants per square kilometer. However, we have to consider Venice’s skewed balance between inhabitants and visitors, with a ratio of 167 tourists per resident, compared to 24 tourists per resident in Florence, for example. Taking visitors into account would significantly raise the effective person density in the city. This reality has major implications for the city’s mobility system, which is currently organized to a very large extent around the movements of tourists. The road network, railway terminals and water taxi systems all respond primarily to tourist demand rather than the needs of the local population. Port Exit: Urban Consequences of Containerization Both cities’ socio-economic histories rely largely on their strategic locations along major international trade routes. Both cities were also among the first to industrialize in the country, with Genoa dubbed the ‘City of Steel’ for its remarkable industrial expansion in the 18th Century. With the rise of containerization in the second half of the twentieth century, new port technologies made the old ports of both cities inadequate for effective operation, prompting relocation away from the city core. In 1969, Italy’s first, and one of Europe’s first two container terminals was opened along Genoa’s western coastline. In contrast, the city center - Europe’s largest - fell into disrepair. A number of regeneration investments in the 1990s, including Renzo Piano’s Affresco waterfront project developed to reconnect port and city, led to a gradual upgrading of the city core. Following a city marketing urban planning strategy, Genoa’s touristic attraction increased fourfold in a span of 5 years (1999-2004). Alternatively in Venice, new technical requirements of motor navigation rendered the morphology of the archipelago’s narrow canal system inadequate for navigation, pushing manufacturing and commercial port activities in-land. Rail connections to Milan further consolidated an industrial center of gravity to the west, as the historic center gradually turned into a touristic hub. The historic center’s port became limited to passenger transport, overwhelmed by cruise tourism activity. While Genoa’s touristic growth may have been the city’s saving grace in the aftermath of spontaneous port evolution, Venice’s touristic concentration is its choke point. More than any other world city, Venice’s experience demonstrates the negative consequences of the complex dynamics of port evolution, heritagization and excessive urban tourism pressures. Urban Structure and Port Configurations Today, the urban structures of…