13TH WORLD CONFERENCE CITIES AND PORTS

The Nantes Saint-Nazaire Metropolis benefits from a unique position on the map of Europe. The biggest urban centre of Greater West France with over a million inhabitants, surprises the visitor by its very specific morphology of the estuary territory of the longest French river opening onto the Atlantic Ocean: the Loire.

Since the foundation of the port of Nantes 3000 years ago, the large territory from Nantes to Saint-Nazaire has developed in connection with the river and the sea. Today the top French port of the Atlantic coast, the Nantes Saint-Nazaire metropolis is evolving in phase with its natural environment and in direct contact with the world. Here, the river and its estuary constitute the key element in a booming urban development.

The attractiveness of the metropolis owes much to the quality of living provided by the estuary territory. The ambitions for social diversity, solidarity and the preservation of an exception nature area have guided a sustained urban development which has taken into account the human scale. 80% of the metropolis area is occupied by natural spaces.

The emblematic urban operations : "Ville-Port – City-Port" in Saint-Nazaire, l’Ile de Nantes, but also economic projects and the mutations of port functions and territories carried out by the Grand Port Maritime de Nantes Saint-Nazaire have provided many occasions to consider City/Port relations and to define new strategies.

Today, projects are being multiplied to imagine an urban development, economic on space, which will benefit everyone and stimulate the performance of the territory on the national and international scene.

AIVP, the worldwide network of port cities, regularly organize international events which today have become essential rendezvous for stakeholders in the modernity and the development of port cities: port authorities, municipalities and local authorities, private companies, universities and research institutes, etc. International contacts, exchanges of experience, and putting into value projects and achievements are at the heart of our actions and are followed daily by a team of professionals. AIVP also propose personalised services enabling you to better comprehend the national and international context of port cities, to position your projects and enhance them, to make the wider public aware of the richness and diversity of port cities. We have been working for more than twenty years for the Excellence of worldwide port cities. Get into contact with us! www.aivp.org

Organized every two years, the World Conferences of AIVP gather between 400 and 600 participants. The World Conferences are intended for port and urban decision-makers (elected representatives and technical experts), researchers and academics, as well as economical and institutional partners of the port areas’ development. These conferences have for main objectives to develop some practices and know-how but also to be a showcase of port’s projects or realizations, to exchange experiences between decision-makers and other economic actors for the ports’ development, to increase institutional and public authorities’ awareness of the main assets of the port area and finally, to reinforce transversal exchanges between the various decision-makers in order to initiate consultation and new working methods.

• www.citiesandports2008.com - In 2008, the 11th AIVP World Conference was held in Stockholm (Sweden) on the theme: "Cities and Ports innovating for an inter-dependent future".

• www.citiesandports2010.com - In 2010, the 12th AIVP World Conference was held in Buenos Aires and Rosario (Argentina) on the theme: "New World, New Challenges".