The Fluid City Paradigm: a deeper innovation

Waterfront regeneration needs to be disruptive: a paradigm shift and a deeperinnovation of methods and tools must be set up in order to act in the changingtimes we live. In current global crisis, a true metamorphosis, the strong flows offinancial, social and relational capitals that powered regeneration of urbanwaterfronts over the last twenty years are no longer available to be tapped in anindiscriminate manner as was the case until just a few years ago. The mostdynamic cities in the future will no longer be those that are able to attract bigprojects and rich investors driven by the real estate market or leisure-baseddevelopment, but the cities have deep socio-cultural diversity and are able to use itas the basis for creating new urban cultures, open and flexible, for activatingidentity resources in branding design and for generating new circular economicvalues. Revitalising urban waterfront is no longer easy opportunity for long-terminvestments or for using the financial capital gains of corporation or hedge funds,but a more creative-driven port city has to provide precious opportunities for realdevelopment – not only quantitative but more and more qualitative – that is able toproduce effects in both the domain of collective assets and that of private capitals,in both the domain of landscape and that of economies, in both the domain ofleisure and that of resilience.