ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the old port areas, not on the neighbourhoods related to port operations. The ports it deals with are not urban-like structures. Before the Industrial Revolution, ports were integrated in the urban environment in a variety of ways. Over the last four decades, urban waterfront renewals have become not only a relevant feature of self-promoted new, entrepreneurial and forward-looking cities but also a hot and contested space of controversy. In the Mediterranean region, the renewal of Barcelona's waterfront makes one of the most remarkable and most frequently cited examples of Barcelona Model trend. In Baltimore, as in Barcelona or Boston, the dilapidated water edge was a visible good opportunity for attracting new economic activities to the old core, a historic catalyst for dramatic urban change. Port authority renovation works and some disrepair in parts of the Port Vell gave a touch of verisimilitude to the area.