Blueport
Blue Urbanism in European Port cities and Operational Resilient Territories
BLUEPORT is a collaborative teaching and learning initiative uniting KTH ABE, Aalto Photography, and UPC-ETSAV in Barcelona to explore the complex relationship between waterlines, climate risks, and the volatility of port infrastructure.
Tid: Må 2026-03-02 kl 13.00 - Må 2026-04-13 kl 01.00
The project fosters a multidisciplinary exchange of knowledge, actions, and pedagogies, envisioning resilient futures for European port cities and their productive waterlines integrating expertise from urban design, photography and visual culture, sustainability sciences, hydrology, climate studies and architecture. Through social, investigative, and teaching interactions, it establishes a Community of Inquiry around blue urbanism and the challenges and opportunities it presents.
BLUEPORT combines a multidisciplinary Online Seminar Series with Physical Fieldwork Modules and a Final Meeting to share research, project work and future developments. It has received Developing Seed Funding for Teaching & Learning from the Unite! Alliance, University Network for Innovation, Technology and Engineering.
The initiative aims to educate new types of professionals and creatives with multidisciplinary skills, capable of systemic thinking and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Sustainability at the city-water interface is central, particularly regarding climate mitigation and flood resilience. Teams will explore diverse knowledge systems, rural to urban, settled to nomadic, integrating perspectives from local communities and populations in transit. The project equips students to engage ethically and meaningfully with shifting maritime landscapes by integrating environmental awareness with civic responsibility. The pedagogical tools includes: mapping, image documentation, multi-sensory photographic practices, text narratives, site interventions and design on-site.
BLUEPORT in the long term seeks to establish a sustained interdisciplinary framework, fostering exchanges and future joint programs in architecture, photography, and environmental reframing.
BLUEPORT TEAM:
Elena Carlini, Francesca Savio, KTH ABE, Architecture. Landscapes & Cities division
Luigia Brandimarte, KTH Sustainable Development, Environmental Sciences and Engineering Department (SEED).
Donald Weber, Aalto, Art & Design, Photography
Adolf Sotoca, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Escola Tecnica Superior d'Arquitectura del Vallés (ETSAV), Sustainable Intervention in the Built Environment (MISMeC)
INFO:
Elena Carlini elenaca@kth.se Francesca Savio fsavio@kth.se
Donald Weber donald.weber@aalto.fi
Blueport on Unite! Metacampus
BLUEPORT, Blue Urbanism in European Port Cities and Operational Resilient Territories, 2025-2026
ONLINE SEMINARS JANUARY - APRIL 2026(https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/69138028919)
# 01 - Monday 02/02 13:00 - 16:00 (CET, Sweden) 14:00 - 17:00 (EET, Finland)
IMAGES OF THE INVISIBLE: URBAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Remco de Vries photographer
Peter Bialobrzeski photographer
# 02 - Monday 16/02 12:00 - 15:00 (CET, Sweden) 13:00 - 16:00 (EET, Finland)
ON PORTS AS INTER-SCALAR AND INTER-TEMPORAL
Carola Hein Chair of History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology,
Jacopo Gennari Feslikenian architect and photographer
# 03 - Monday 02/03 13:00 - 16:00 (CET, Sweden) 14:00 - 17:00 (EET, Finland)
METHODS: MAPPING, SOUNDING, AND ETHNOGRAPHIC WAYS OF KNOWING
Dear Hunter artistic research practice
Ricardo Atienza Badel associate professor of Sound in Art and Media at Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design and Architecture
# 04 - Monday 09/03 12:00 - 15:00 (CET, Sweden) 13:00 - 16:00 (EET, Finland)
RETHINKING PLACE, RETHINKING PLANNING
Ali Shobeiri assistant professor of Photography and Visual Culture at Leiden University
Romina Rodelaassociate professor and senior researcher at Södertörn University
# 05 Monday 30/03 13:00 - 16:00 (CET, Sweden) 14:00 - 17:00 (EET, Finland)
OPERATIONAL LANDSCAPES AND ENVIRONMENTAL THOUGHT & DESIGN
Nikos Katsikis assistant professor of Urban Design at Delft University of Technology
Beatrice Moretti architect and lecturer at the Polytechnic of Uni Genova
Caroline Dahl senior lecturer Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
# 06 - Monday 13/04 13:00 - 16:00 (CET, Sweden) 14:00 - 17:00 (EET, Finland)
METHODS: WALKING AS RESEARCH, STORYTELLING AS DESIGN
Andrew Merrie researcher and Research Liaison Officer at the Stockholm Resilience Centre
Finn Arne Jørgensen professor of Environmental History and Science Studies at the University of Stavanger