ECO-PORTS FOR GREEN CITIES

 

“Green cities” is the urbanism reply to the need of transforming cities for sustainability. The actions aim at turning the structural weaknesses of (post-) industrial cities into opportunities.
The renaissance of cities is contingent upon the development of a new integrated vision for their functioning. This should include a clean and healthy environment, accessible green landscapes in and around the city, carbon neutrality and zero waste. Basic requirements entail an active environmental management of a high standard, higher residential and services density, efficient public transport, and a policy targeted towards urban livability and quality of life. Realizing this necessitates an explicit vision on the general and local requirements and priorities. Policy, planning, management, and supporting infrastructure, next to the active involvement of the main stakeholders all need to be in place.
For cities hosting ports, the involvement of these latter is crucial. A performing environmental management system (EMS) is essential in this context. Core elements of such an EMS entail a vision and a port policy in line with the city priorities, an operational management system, monitoring and visibility of the results. Management systems for green ports deal with the specific environmental problems resulting from handling and stocking freight. These include, but are not limited to, water pollution mainly by oil and chemicals, water soils contaminated by e.g. tributyltin and PCBs, waste, energy, transport and land use. Moreover the implementation of an EMS also influences the economic performance of the organization, by eliminating environment as a factor of competition among ports. It improves the involvement of and the relationships between stakeholders both internal and external to the organization.
In Europe ports network on EMS under the “Eco-ports” umbrella. This offers a set of aids implementing EMS in ports. Instruments include checklists for the auto-diagnosis of the environmental problems (including these associated with legal compliance), guidelines on good practices and training, exchanges of experiences, developing new strategies and technologies, and offering a label. The “eco-ports” system is most popular with participating ports all over the European Union.
Developing green cities and eco-ports is hampered by the lack of a general definition and guidelines for application. These need to be defined in the specific context of each city striving towards more sustainable development. Core elements in the process entail a well-defined vision, policy, planning, management, and societal support.