PCF Talk #61 – Agenda Monthly Meeting – Hybrid
This is a hybrid event, please join in person, or via the zoom link below!
Planning in multi-risk conditions
09:00 - 09:15
Introduction.
Land-water threshold as a laboratory for Multi-Risk urban futures. Reflections on the Symposium
09:15 - 09:45
Presenter: Paolo De Martino, Researcher and teacher (TU Delft - IUAV University of Venice)
Paolo De Martino graduated in architecture from the Department of Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II (DiARC). Since 2017, he has been teaching at the Department of Architecture of TU Delft where he is tutoring students in design studios. Since 2025 he has a research appointment with the Department of Urbanism at TU Delft on the topic of public space. Paolo is also affiliated with IUAV University of Venice where he has a post doc position investigating coastal and maritime spaces from a design perspective.
As cities along rivers, deltas, lagoons, and coasts face increasing ecological fragility and social vulnerability, the urgency to reframe the urban condition through water becomes ever more pressing. These territories are shaped by a convergence of geological, hydrological, environmental, and anthropogenic pressures—forces that amplify multi-risk conditions and challenge conventional planning approaches and theoretical understanding. This symposium invites scholars, designers, planners, and researchers to explore the land-water threshold as a fertile site for experimentation, adaptation, and imagination.
The land-water threshold is understood here as a liminal and porous interface where flows of people, goods, ecologies, and cultures converge. These thresholds are not static boundaries, but dynamic interfaces where risks accumulate and possibilities emerge. The symposium invites rethinking land-water thresholds as experimental grounds for rethinking governance models, design principles, and socio-environmental narratives.
This two-day event have engaged with multi-risk urbanism through methods such as participatory mapping, scenario-building, and speculative design. Contributions are invited that interrogate the relational, temporal, and narrative dimensions of water in urban environments, aiming to build a more inclusive and fluid understanding of space. We invite participants to bring in selected case studies that might reflect on questions such as: what is multi-risk? What are the challenges posed by water in different settings? What kind of new design patterns and/or water grammars we can identify that respond to the multirisk challenges across the land-water continuum? How do we map this liminal space and all its associated risks across the land-water threshold?
‘Adapting urban coastlines. Between expansion and retreat'
09:45 - 10:30
Presenter: Vittore Negretto, Research Manager, Università Iuav di Venezia
Research manager and adjunct professor in urban planning and climate change adaptation. Holds a PhD in urban resilience and serves as an Innovative Action Expert for the European Urban Initiative. His research is focused on climate risk, nature-based solutions, and sustainable spatial strategies.
This study examines the adaptation strategies employed in low-lying urban coastal regions to address the challenges posed by climate change, including rising sea levels, storm surges, and coastal erosion. By analyzing current practices from two European regions, the research identifies key principles and strategies applied in coastal adaptation, referencing the four main approaches outlined by the IPCC (2022): accommodation, planned retreat, strategic expansion, and protection.
While incremental measures appear to dominate coastal management practices, transformative approaches such as planned retreats seem to face significant political and economic barriers. There appears to be a persistent tension between the prioritization of short-term protective strategies and the pursuit of long-term sustainability for coastal ecosystems. This research has been supported by the iNEST SP8 project, focusing on maritime and inland water technologies.
‘Small rooms, big decisions’: Governance features of central/national state-led port infrastructuring in the port-city of Durban, South Africa
10:30 - 11:00
Presenter: Glen Robbins, PRISM Research Associate (University of Cape Town)
Glen Robbins is a part-time academic and independent researcher in urban and regional economic development. He has previously worked at a senior level in government in South Africa, as a university lecturer and as an advisor with various United Nations agencies. At present he is a Research Associate at PRSIM (School of Economics, University of Cape Town) and an Adjunct Lecturer at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (University of Pretoria). He has an MPhil in Development Studies (University of Sussex) is working towards a late-career PhD at the University of Amsterdam. He has recently published papers on South Africa’s energy transition in Energy Policy and on national economic policies and South Africa’s cities in Area, Development and Policy.
The Port of Durban, South Africa’s most significant container port, has, in the past decade-and-a-half, experienced an extended crisis with infrastructure failings, operational performance declines and frequent conflicts with other actors. This research explored the impacts of South Africa’s highly centralised, nationally determined, governance approach for infrastructuring in ports, on the inclusivity and sustainability of planning and operational choices in and around the port city of Durban. Informed by literature on actor relations and governance, the research examined a decade of port and port-city infrastructuring choices and their associated governance features. The research pays particular attention to relational dynamics across different scales, and how these evolved around the complex interfaces between the port and city in a context of challenging social and environmental pressures. The research utilised a qualitative research approach, combining semi-structured interviews, direct observation of many port and port-city planning processes, and an analysis of an extensive array of publicly available documents. Findings point to a failure by dominant state actors to substantively attend to a more inclusive governance approach, which in turn undermined the prospects for more sustainable and inclusive outcomes that could have been of benefit to both port and city actors, whether they be local, national or international.
Living with water
11:15 - 11:45
Presenter: Mila Avellar Montezuma (UNESCO IHE Delft, TU Delft, WaterStudio, Rede Clima) Gabrielle (DeltaMetropool)
Mila Avellar Montezuma is an Architect, Urbanist, and Landscape Designer (UFPE) with an MSc Water Science and Engineering, specialized in Sustainable Urban Water Management and Climate-Resilient Cities from UNESCO-IHE, TU Delft, and IHS Erasmus, and a postgraduation in Urban Heritage Strategies for Water Challenges (IHS, TU/Delft, RCE). As a practitioner and researcher, Mila is deeply committed to advancing climate change adaptation through a research-by-design approach, with a focus on nature-driven technological solutions. She has developed water-adaptive projects in Brazil, China, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands
The "Living with Water" project investigates the often-overlooked role of small ports in the Dutch Delta. The project argues that these regional hubs are not merely smaller versions of their larger counterparts, such as Rotterdam, but rather serve as crucial living laboratories for climate adaptation and urban resilience. Through a highly collaborative design-based methodology, the project team has engaged with a diverse range of stakeholders (from policymakers to local residents) to collect unique narratives and "best practices" from these communities.
This research moves beyond a traditional, economic-centric analysis to create a "Catalogue of Best Practices." The catalogue is a dynamic visual resource that documents how small port-cities are navigating complex socio-economic, environmental, and cultural challenges. By re-framing heritage as a catalyst for innovation and using design as a tool to envision future scenarios, the project highlights how localized, bottom-up solutions can provide powerful, scalable insights for the entire Delta region and beyond. Ultimately, the project aims to amplify the voices of these small ports, positioning them as essential players in co-developing a resilient and sustainable future for port-city ecosystems.
PCF lighthouse projects and new opportunities
11:45 - 12:00