From Open Port to North Tyrrhenian Port Center Network. A Synopsis of 15 Years Port-City Integration Strategy

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic confirmed ports role in the global economy but it highlighted that there is still a big work to let it be recognized and preserved by general public. The changes ports went through in the last century generated a physical distance between ports and the general public which had psychological consequences in ordinary citizen mindset and did not help to make the port attractive for future generations’ employees. To achieve the community outreach and the license to operate social, public bodies – most of all port authorities – must engage themselves in restoring the contact with local communities, by showing them how ports work, to what extent their assets contribute to the city/region development, which are the added values and the cultural connotations of living in a port-city. After a brief recall of Italian new ports organization and a short overview regarding North Tyrrhenian ports-cities distance, this article aims to present some steps made by North Tyrrhenian Port Network Authority to make the ports closer to their cities trough a long-term project: the “Open Port” Project (since 2007), including the Livorno Port Center (since 2015) and the Port Centers’ Network of the North Tyrrhenian (end of 2021/beginning of 2022).