The redevelopment process of Genoa’s waterfront and the projects by Renzo Piano since the ‘80 to the Blue Print

Abstract

The work is divided in three sections: the first one describes the Ancient Port of Genoa reconversion history to urban functions for Expo 1992, the other two sections describe respectively the 2004 “Affresco” project and the 2014 “Blue Print” project both elaborated by Renzo Piano, with the aim to re-organize the Genoa waterfront. The “Affresco” concerns the area including the Genoa International Fair (Fiera del Mare) and Voltri, the last west side suburb of the city: this project main purpose is the city airport displacement and re-organisation, while the 2014 “Blue Print” project is focused on the area within Calata Gadda and Punta Vagno as a development toward the east coast line of the Ancient Port project.

This paper intends to analyze the projects main relevant features, considering them as three phases temporally distinguished of the same issue, focusing on integration difficulties between Port and Urban functions as well as between Port Authority and Municipality, at Institutional level. Both the largely completed urban transformation of the Ancient Port, and the new projects, are trying to recompose in a synergistic way, the relations between the two Administrations, planning a harmonic growth of the City. The pending aim for the management of the city council of Genoa is coordinate the Port development needs (in an increasingly competitive contest among European and Mediterranean ports) and the City needs of urban quality improvement, should reach the highest compatibility level, helping to develop new enhancement strategies of the Ancient Port.