Adaptive Strategies in Naples and Beirut: Methodology, Scenario Thinking and Design Fiction

Paolo De Martino; John Hanna; Carola Hein

doi:10.6092/issn.2612-0496/16986

Authors

Paolo De Martino Delft University of Technology

Paolo De Martino graduated in Architecture from the Department of Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II (DiARC). After graduating he worked as an architect in Naples, focusing mainly on the reuse of the existing architectural heritage and on urban regeneration. In 2014 he moved to Delft, the Netherlands, where he completed a PhD in a dual research program between Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and University of Naples Federico II. His PhD research, entitled “Land in Limbo”, investigates port cities from a spatial and governance perspective, analyzing the impact that actors have in shaping spatial development. The city of Naples is an emblematic case to question how to rethink the areas of land-sea interaction, at different scales, as opportunities for territorial regeneration. Since 2017 he has been teaching at the Department of Architecture of TU Delft where he is tutoring students in Design Studios such as “Architecture and Urbanism beyond oil”, “Adaptive Strategies” and “Designing Public Spaces for Maritime Mindsets”, coordinated by Carola Hein. Since 2021, in collaboration with TU Delft, he has been involved in teaching two MOOCs entitled: (Re) Imagining Port Cities: (Re)Imagining Port Cities: Understanding Space, Society and Culture and Water Works: Activating Heritage for Sustainable Development. Paolo De Martino is a member of the PortCityFutures research group and a member of the coordination group. Since 2022 he is a Post doc at the University IUAV of Venice, under the supervision of Prof. Francesco Musco, working on the theme of Maritime Spatial Planning.
John Hanna Delft University of Technology

John Hanna is an architect, lecturer and researcher. His research addresses the spatiality of urban conflicts with a focus on Paris and Beirut. John’s wider research interests include Mediterranean and Red Sea port cities, quarantine spaces, architecture and literature, and urban histor(ies) of Africa and the Middle East, particularly in relation to colonialism and nationalism.
Carola Hein Delft University of Technology

Carola Hein is Professor of the History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology and director of the Leiden-Delft- Erasmus PortCityFutures Centre. She has published widely and received a Guggenheim and an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship as well as other major grants. Her books include Port City Atlas (2023), Oil Spaces (2020), The Urbanisation of the Sea (2020) Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage (2019), The Routledge Planning History Handbook (2017), Uzō Nishiyama, Reflections on Urban, Regional and National Space (2017), Port Cities (2011), The Capital of Europe (2004), Rebuilding Urban Japan after 1945 (2003), and Cities, Autonomy and Decentralisation in Japan (2006), and Hauptstadt Berlin 1957-58 (1991).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2612-0496/16986

Keywords:

Port Cities, Landscape, Water, Naples, Beirut

Abstract

Port cities are places at the edge of sea and land, where flows of goods and people create unique spaces, institutions and cultures, often over long periods of time. History matters when it comes to understanding and designing the future of port cities such as the two ancient Mediterranean cities of Beirut and Naples, where institutions and spaces are the result of longue durée histories. Long-standing spatial and institutional frameworks in these cities have influenced recent plans. In the Italian city of Naples, historic spaces and practices have impeded transformation, because port and city authorities are pursuing divergent and historically established goals while many industrial sites, including areas used by oil industry, await redevelopment. In Beirut, reconstruction following the tragic explosion of 2020, which significantly damaged both port and city, shaping and perhaps limiting the present and future of the city. This article analyses the historic development and the opportunities for future planning of Naples and Beirut through the lens of the Adaptive Strategies course, a master-level course coordinated by Carola Hein and co-taught with Paolo De Martino and John Hanna at TU Delft in 2022. Students, through imaginative methods, rethought the relationship between land and water, port and city, questioning current planning models and imagining new resilient and adaptive processes.

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Adaptive Strategies in Naples and Beirut: Methodology, Scenario Thinking and Design Fiction

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