CULTURAL HERITAGE AS A DRIVER OF PORT CITIES’ SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

CULTURAL HERITAGE AS A DRIVER OF PORT CITIES’ SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Published on 10/11/2020 (last modified 26/10/2021)

START DATE

Nov 24, 2020 h.

ONLINE CONFERENCE 

On November 24th, with over 200 participants and the appreciation of UNESCO, the International Conference on "Cultural Heritage as a lever for the sustainable development of port cities" was held.

With our great pride the participation was important. This is a trace of the first real result of the REMEMBER project: the joint commitment of the leading port cities.

The joint interest in the issues was also underlined by the geographer Franco Farinelli, who opened the works with praise to the great step forward in the fight against the crisis of territorial models.

The speakers debated on the theme of the sea as the main engine of the economy, taking for example the Venetian case and how, in the lagoon: "The flourishing mercantile economy allowed, in medieval, Renaissance and then modern times, the development of culture, arts and technological innovation". These are the words of Pino Musolino, Extraordinary Commissioner of the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea.
Musolino made us part of the initiative that the Veneto region is carrying out: the "Virtual Museum of the Port of Venice". An innovative project, capable of exploiting augmented reality to allow everyone to rediscover the ancient traditions of the port city and follow the evolution of Venice's trade routes, from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe.

Of great impact was the speech by Rodolfo Giampieri, President of the Port System Authority of the Central Adriatic Sea, project leader, who underlined the importance of a port for his city: "The cultural heritage of ports has the great advantage to be immediately recognizable by those who live in a port city and by those who work there. Port and city can find, in the cultural dimension, the key to growing together again''.

Port as an engine of the economy, including tourism. This is the observation that the representative of the Veneto Region, managing authority of the Italy-Croatia program, Federico Rosset, gave us. At the end of the institutional interventions, Rosset highlighted the particular importance of ports as protagonists in the construction of new tourism models in the Adriatic Sea.

The conference's today more relevant than ever, in times of pandemic and, even before, in the wake of the UN's 2030 Agenda.
Ernesto Ottone Ramirez, Unesco Keynote speaker, Deputy Director General for Culture, former Chilean Minister, informed us of the establishment of the "Task force for resilient tourism": a space to implement models able to achieve a balance between social, economic, environmental and cultural dimensions.

This is followed by the interventions of Professor Carola Hein of the University of TU-Delft who placed port cities at the center of the project for building sustainable cities.
Ideas that were also echoed in the speech of José Sánchez, International Project Manager: not only sustainability, but also culture as a fundamental application profile of the UN 2030 Agenda on the subject of maritime cities.

Domagoj Drazina, Project Manager and Education Curator of the National Museum of Zadar, then presented us the greatest challenge for today's museums: involving the public. The aim is in fact to make it active, to tell the same story, “together”.

Professor Paolo Clini, of the Marche Polytechnic University moved in the same vein. "The virtual copy" - says the Professor - "makes art democratic": a tool accessible to all, in the most varied realities and dimensions.

Lastly, the launch of the "Adrijo" brand of the cultural network of the eight Adriatic ports, described by Guido Vettorel - Head of Development, Promotion, Statistics, Communication and EU Projects of the Central Adriatic Port Authority - as a story shared by the leading cities of the project, capable of accompanying them in their immersive experiences.

The conference thus came to an end with the intervention of the Mayor of Ancona, Valeria Mancinelli, Anci delegate for port cities.
In her words, the appreciations to the intentions shared by the Partners of the project are clear: the reconstruction of a common identity, today more urgent than ever.
Innovation and future, hand in hand with culture and tradition.
This is the “core” of the Remember project.

Watch the Online Conference registration at: