Transformation of the planned port city: From identity based urbanism to the expansion of infrastructure capacity

Abstract

This paper examines the transformation of physical geography into an anthropogenic landscape through the example of the sea coast area reshaped by urbanisation. Physical changes in space are analysed through the process of coastal land reclamation undertaken for the construction of the Port of Rijeka and its associated railway infrastructure in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as through its recent expansion of contemporary infrastructure projects. While the originally planned port functioned as a generator of the city's economic, social, spatial, and cultural development, its contemporary expansion, driven exclusively by economic objectives, undermines the planned configuration of the coastal frontage and devastate the existing urban character. Within the protected urban area, a conflict emerges between cultural heritage and recent utilitarian port facilities. Projects such as the Zagreb Deep Sea Terminal, the Praško Pier, the state road D-403, and the modernisation of the railway line contribute to the degradation of established urban-architectural and historical-artistic values of the modern industrial city. The aim of the paper is to analyse and critically assess the shift in urban planning paradigms through project and planning documentation related to port infrastructure, as well as their feedback effects on the urban space of the city. The role of the protected port area in the contemporary context is also examined, questioning whether it represents a development potential or a constraint to further urban planning and development. Through a comparative analysis of good practice, using the example of the historic port area Porto Vecchio in Trieste, a potential model of urban regeneration is explored. The research results should point out the advantages and disadvantages of existing approaches to planning the protected area of the Port of Rijeka, while the contribution of the paper lies in the establishment of spatial-planning protection criteria and possible models for managing port infrastructure heritage, aimed at achieving a higher quality of urban revitalisation.