Giovanni Maria Biddau, Gianfranco Sanna
conferenza internazionale WATERLINES, Research, Projects and Visions for the Connections between Cities and Waterfronts, 5-6 Settembre 2025.
WATERLINES focuses on the evolving relationships between urban environments and port areas. It addresses themes such as the regeneration of port infrastructure, the reuse of abandoned or obsolete maritime spaces, and new strategies for reconnecting cities with their waterfronts.
Port areas today are undergoing rapid and continuous transformations due to global maritime and commercial dynamics.
These changes significantly impact the relationship between large infrastructural systems (road, rail, logistics) and the adjacent urban fabric. In this context, ‘threshold zones’ often emerge—spaces
of transition and tension where urban and port functions overlap, conflict, or remain disconnected.
These in-between spaces become critical sites of opportunity for urban regeneration and spatial reconfiguration.
Their strategic position within the city makes them ideal laboratories for testing innovative approaches to public spaces.
Through integrated planning and design, these areas can evolve into connective tissues that foster dialogue between the city and the port, generating new centralities and supporting more inclusive and sustainable urban models.
Laboratorio di ricerca LEAP
