Reclaiming or excluding? The evolution of waterfront redevelopment and public space in Genoa

Abstract

This research revolves around how the waterfront redevelopment paradigm has chronologically shifted and its direct impact on public grounds. Increased influence of the market, changing involvement weights of stakeholders, the underlying rationale for waterfront regeneration, and their reflection on the hinterland’s spatial and programmatic development of the waterfront projects from the emergence of the phenomenon to the current timespan are discussed by addressing back to the main idea of the “reclaiming waterfronts for the public”. This issue is comparatively examined in terms of the redevelopment process of Genoa’s urban waterfront to evaluate the public nature of the transformed spaces, from the Porto Antico’s regeneration to the ongoing Waterfront di Levante redevelopment project.