From hospitality to Urban Conflict. Morphologies in Transformation in Mediterranean Ports

Port is a complex non-place to analyze, it narrates the history of the Mediterranean, expresses the ethos of its populations, their deep sense of hospitality. Often the port coincides with the foundational nucleus or with the city gate, the economic pole, the favorite place for meetings and comparison. However, it also represents a limit, a closed perimeter that excludes the gaze and the presence of the citizen. Thus, the port is conceived only as an operational area, takes on typical forms that are difficult to integrate into the urban fabric, and can soon become an abandoned area, often in decline. The increasing migratory flows make the waterfront a very topical subject for social and design disciplines: issues of segregation and coexistence are associated with problems related to the use of public space. The aim of the research is to understand the mutual interactions between city and port, the morphological dynamics that have transformed the landscape into a territory, the role of design as a vehicle for spatial regeneration and social integration. With an integrated approach between morphology and design experimentation, applied for now only to the case of the city of Messina, the work aims to reconstruct the evolution of historic ports in the Mediterranean, recognizing the port heritage and enhancing it with inclusion strategies. Regenerating the city from the waterfront means rediscovering spaces and habits, expanding economic and cultural horizons, creating new community identity.