Learning From Waterfront Regeneration Projects and Contemporary Design Approaches of European Port Cities

This paper analyses the processes and approaches of waterfront regenerations in Europe and aims to evaluate the implementations. There are some common processes and cross-cultural transactions between port cities, as all port cities have to respond to the same functions to be part of the network. Since ports were interrelated, architectural approaches and implementations in port cities were transferred to other locations. Port areas changed through the expansion of the city, economical changes, technological developments, wars, fires, de-industrialization and containerization. Facts like containerization and de-industrialization caused the relocation of the port. Through regeneration projects, industrial heritage is preserved and derelict areas are used for the implementation of contemporary architecture. Examining some case cities (Docklands, Genoa, Hafencity) helps learning from previous projects realised in last decades. Hamburg Hafencity project demonstrates a successful intervention, but a relatively failed example might be Izmir waterfront regeneration project. The port area of Izmir became a derelict area after de-industrialization. As industrial buildings could not adapt to the changes, they have been abandoned. The failure of the project provides an opportunity to study the role of actors (including architects, planners, organizations, stakeholders) and draw some lessons through previous generations of waterfront regenerations for Izmir.