Portusplus

Deadline: 15.07.2011

Portusplus is the online-magazine of RETE, the Association for the collaboration between ports and cities, dedicated to the study of themes involving the relationship between port and city and the regeneration of urban waterfronts.

The first issue of the magazine is consultable on the website of RETE: www.reteonline.org in the section "Portusplus". Portusplus 1-2011 is dedicated to the results of the Call for papers launched in 2010 with the aim of collecting and disseminating interdisciplinary scientific publications, focused on the themes of interest.

Exploiting the advantages of communicating on the Internet as an opportunity to present original works, theoretical studies or the research results supported by practical experiences, conducted in many countries around the world and concerning the fields of interest described, RETE launches second call for papers.

CALL FOR PAPERS 2011
The Call for paper 2011 of Portusplus is consultable on the website of RETE: www.reteonline.org in the section "Portusplus" - "Call for papers". 
The “Call for papers” for Portusplus is finalized towards the collection and diffusion on the web of interdisciplinary scientific documents, focused on the many themes of interest concerning port cities and urban waterfronts. The objective is to satisfy the demand for knowledge and for the diffusion of new research studies, policies, processes and actions in order to stimulate the interdisciplinary debate.
The call for papers is open to articles from the world of science, academics and culture, from experts and technicians, from contributors who operate within institutions and research centers and in general from anyone who in any position has knowledge and experience in the various disciplines that deal with the following themes:

A.    The contemporary port city and the new models of port-city relationships 
B.    The regeneration of urban-port waterfronts
C.    Teaching the port city
D.    The Latin-American port city

The papers submitted will be evaluated by a “Review Committee”, composed of prestigious international experts in the field, and, if they are considered worthy, will be published in the Portusplus digital magazine. The articles which are considered to be of particular interest will also published in an abridged version in the printed magazine Portus.

Portusplus will be consulted on the website of RETE: www.reteonline.org.
All the papers selected by the Review Committee to be published by Portusplus, will be given an ISSN code (International Standard Serial Number), the international number that identifies standard publications.
Participation in the selection of articles may be requested by responding to the “Call for papers” before July 15, 2011, following the instructions for submission.

THEMES
The themes addressed in the single papers may concern the plurality of dynamics involved in port cities and urban waterfronts, from the point of view of different scientific-disciplinary approaches (economic, social, city-planning, cultural, etc.). In particular, the proposals should concern an issue related to the thematic areas specified below:

A.    The contemporary port city and the new models of port-city relationships

B.    The regeneration of urban-port waterfronts
The relationship between port and city has always evolved according to physical and functional models that have been reproduced over the centuries with little or no significant changes. In recent decades, these models have undergone important modifications, generated primarily by the profound transformations underway in the field of port organization and its inclusion in urban and regional contexts.
To improve the quality of the relationship between cities and their ports it is important to understand the various aspects of these changes that have taken place both in the way the port structures function and in the interactive dynamics between the two elements in question. The study of specific cases, in different countries, will help provide a better description of these phenomena, verifying the factors they have in common as well as their distinctive features, thus helping to adjust the tools of intervention to use in city plans.

C.    Teaching the port city 
Currently, more than half the world’s population is concentrated in cities, nuclei that basically act as organizers of the totality of the space on our planet. Within this global network of cities, port cities not only play a vital role in the dynamics of a globalized economy, but because they can rely on this type of infrastructure, they can count on a series of spatial, economic, social, cultural and environmental factors that define their dynamics, operation, and lifestyle.

Nevertheless, the port, the agent that characterizes this group of cities, on the average represents an unknown factor for most of society, including the people who live in the areas in which these infrastructures are located. This situation is also reflected in the way ports are treated in accredited studies, where they are generally considered from various points of view, with very different focuses on the contents in terms of conceptual impact and extension, and with a relative importance in the programs that, in many cases, do not appear proportional to their social economic and regional importance.
Considering that it is during the period of schooling that we acquire most of the concepts we use to interpret our world, and shape many of the perceptions which we use to construct the reality that surrounds us, we believe it is of extreme interest to introduce a line of investigation in the field of education, oriented towards teaching the port city, in the understanding that the end results, which should lead to the development of specific teaching products, might contribute more positively, in the medium and long term, to the improvement of the relationship between ports and cities.

D.    The Latin-American port city 
The major port cities in Latin America were founded between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. During the nineteenth century, the independence of the countries and the diffusion of steam navigation triggered a new phase of development in all the ports which, in general, has continued through the present day.
Currently more than thirty Latin-American port cities and their ports offer opportunities to develop projects to renovate some of the spaces they share or projects for their maritime heritage. To explore the history and the current possibilities for the conversion of port spaces in Latin America also means studying the intense relationship they have maintained with many European countries, especially Spain and Portugal. This type of exploration or line of research can and should advance the technical and economic cooperation between the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

LANGUAGE
The papers may be submitted exclusively in the following languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian.

PRESENTATION OF THE PAPERS
The rules for participating in the “Call for papers” require, under penalty of exclusion, that the following documents be submitted:

- the Declaration of Responsibility (Attachment A) and the Registration Form (Attachment B) filled out and signed by each author (.DOC file format with digital signature, or .PDF or.JPG file format with scan of the original signature).
- an “Abstract” in the .DOC file format with a maximum of 1.000 characters – spaces included – in English, in the Required Format (Attachment C)
- a “Report” in .DOC file format maximum 20,000 characters – spaces included – with images, charts, tables and relative captions, in the Required Format (Attachment C)
- images in high definition, 300 dpi, files in format .JPG/.TIFF
- a brief Profile of the Author (Attachment D) in the .DOC file format

FOR MORE INFORMATIONS AND CONTACTS:

RETE secretary:
S. Polo, 2605
30125 VENEZIA
tel +39/041/5230428
fax +39/041/5286103
email:mail@rete2001.org
WEB www.reteonline.org