A port, its neighboring city, and region form a type of territory at select intersections of water and land, across which people, goods, and ideas all flow. Although a port and its infrastructure form a globally connected industrial complex, that complex must share limited space with its city and region. Port functions exist cheek by jowl with lived-in urban spaces, and other built-up and natural areas. PortCityFutures explores these particularities and proposes spatial planning and design measures for the use of this limited space so that the port and city (and region) can jointly evolve.

PortCityFutures employs interdisciplinary methods and long-term perspectives to connect political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions of spatial use. It explores how the flows of goods and people generated by port activities intersect with the dynamics of the natural territory, hydraulic engineering, spatial planning, urban design, architecture, and heritage. It examines the spatial impact of competing interests among port-related and urban spatial development needs and timelines, proposes possible scenarios, and examines the impacts of these futures.