PCF Events
Coastal Workshop: Alternative Histories
The morphology of coasts around the world are shaped and structured as a result of coastal systems or subsystem like the morphology of a delta, the morphology of an estuary, the morphology of a beach, the morphology of a bedform. The coastal morphology is fundamental to the relation between land and water, and the global challenges that we are facing like seal level rise and the environmental crisis. This theme focusses on coastal port cities in deltas as the intersection of the axes delta system and human transport system. The delta system is the (defense) line along the coast and the section over the delta: the deltaic system of rivers and regional water system. The axis of the human transport city is about the regional relations between the port city and the hinterland.
Running on September 3rd 9:00-17:00
Policy Workshop: Unlocking the Potential of Small Ports within Port Networks for a Just Transition within Planetary Boundaries
A collaborative Policy Workshop will take place on 18 September 2026 to co-create transformative policy recommendations that address the opportunities and challenges facing small and medium-sized ports and explore their potential to contribute to a more sustainable future for Port City Territories. Planetary boundaries, the critical life-support systems keeping the Earth healthy and resilient, will provide a compass for rethinking the environmental impact of port ecosystems and their roles in the just transition. The workshop welcomes policymakers, port authorities, municipalities, researchers, and civil society organisations with an interest in port cities and port city networks.
Running on September 18th 9:00-13:00
Creating a Vision for Port Cities: Morocco Edition 2026
This 5-day workshop based in Rabat, Morocco invites participants to explore how port cities can harness their heritage and unique characteristics to develop sustainable urban spaces and engaged communities, while maintaining the essential flows of port activity. At its core, the workshop asks: How can port cities balance urban life with the demands of global trade? What kinds of strategies can ensure resilience, inclusivity, and adaptability over the next 30 to 50 years? Using a value-based approach, participants will apply tools and methods to design strategies for resilient, multifunctional port spaces that integrate economic, social, and environmental priorities.
Running from October 26th - 30th
Reimagining Wetlands : Advancing Water Security and Sustainability through the Arts
Art has always been one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring languages of storytelling. In Kolkata, the continuity of artistic traditions plays a central role in civic life and is deeply connected to the city’s ecological foundations. Kolkata was originally formed from wetlands; its drainage systems, rivers, canals, ponds, and marshes are all aligned with the hydrological rhythms of a wetland landscape. Culturally, from visual arts and theatre, to music and poetry, the city has fostered generations of artists who interpret and reimagine the relationship between people, their environment, and the more-than-human world. At its heart, this conference recognizes wetlands as vital cultural and ecological commons. By bringing together diverse perspectives, it seeks to illuminate how water connects climate, heritage, and community resilience.
Running from February 1 - 2
Creating a Vision for Port Cities - Professional Workshop
We invite professionals - architects, urban planners, municipal officials, port managers, policymakers, and cultural practitioners - to engage with real-world examples and work on their own case studies at this 3-day workshop, featuring trips to Rotterdam and Scheveningen. Through this, we will explore how to activate heritage as a tool for sustainable urban development, rethink water infrastructure for multifunctional use, and design urban spaces that remain relevant for future generations.
Running from May 27 - 29
2025 Conference: (Re)Connecting River and City – The Seine in Paris and the Ile-de-France
In times of climate change, it is urgent to rethink the relationship of inhabitants and built heritage with rivers, seas and other bodies of water. Ecosystem approaches can help to (re)create habitable, sustainable and just spaces, in accordance with historical practices, while protecting, adapting and learning from history and heritage.
The stories we weave, the projects we realize and the heritage we preserve to live with water, both today and in the future, require special attention. Exploring natural and cultural heritage, as well as intangible practices, can contribute to the construction of new narratives for World Heritage cities located along rivers.
COST Action PACT Conference & Site Visit: Energy Transition & Waterfront Futures
Lisbon’s Tagus estuary presents a complex, layered territory where port operations, urban life, fragile ecology, heritage, and tourism intersect. Over decades, Lisbon has embarked on bold waterfront transformations (e.g. Expo 1998, regeneration of industrial zones, extension of public spaces) while confronting climate pressures, social inequities, and the imperative of decarbonization. By positioning Lisbon as a living laboratory, this PACT event aims to explore how energy transition can be integrated into waterfront development, port–city synergy, climate resilience, and inclusive urban regeneration. The conference will bring together multiple voices - academics, local authorities, port authorities, NGOs, cultural actors, and community groups - to co-produce knowledge and open pathways into future European comparative work.
COST Action PACT workshop and meeting
Join Carola Hein, PCF Director and PACT Coordinator, and other PCF members as the COST Action – Port City Territories in Action: A Collaborative Laboratory for Inclusive Energy Transition (PACT) will take place in Le Havre, France, from 25 to 27 September 2025. Bringing together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers, the event explores how ports, cities, and territories can contribute to an inclusive and sustainable energy transition.
Land-water Threshold as a Laboratory for Multi-Risk Urban Futures
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.
