Call 07 | Seagates

SEAGATES

Urban devices for coastal territories

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The seventh issue of SEASCAPE sets out to foster a critical debate on the role of water gateways in the 21st century and their potential contribution as urban and territorial drivers.
Urban gateways are a recurring typology in the culture of the city, often defined by attributes that grant buildings and public spaces – within the same system – the ability to withstand the passage of time, continuing to exist as “extraordinary urban places” regardless of their function.
In contemporary cities and metropolitan areas, the notion of an “urban gateway” may seem diluted; however, it continues to play a decisive – and increasingly complex – role in urban dynamics. This is largely due to the growing specialisation of points of contact between global distribution networks and the city itself, which may be interpreted along three main axes: consumption (goods, tourism), supply (food, energy), and communication (submarine cables). Within this complex infrastructural network, gateways now take the form of airports, transport hubs, cruise terminals, freight and oil ports, wholesale markets, shopping centres, or data centres.
There is no doubt that coastal cities have played a pioneering role in the development of extended territorial systems, structured around navigation and port infrastructures. In this sense, water gateways articulate a network of connections between cities that can be read at local, regional or global scale, traceable across fluvial, estuarine, maritime and oceanic systems. These urban places – highly charged with meaning – are defined by their infrastructural nature, but also stand out as key public spaces.
Today, the high level of specialisation characterising coastal terminals reveals a certain fragility – either in their “post-programmed life” (obsolescence) or in the face of the collapse of the systems that sustained them. This stands in stark contrast to those cases in which infrastructure acquires an urban condition, proving more resilient, adaptable, and detached from rigid programmatic constraints. Water gateways may thus be understood as urban devices capable of connecting the city with the infrastructural systems that structure wider territories.
At the same time, due to their intrinsic complexity, coastal systems offer exceptional testing grounds for urban innovation – enabling the development of solutions that may be transferred to other contexts. From this perspective, we propose three main research strands that explore how such urban devices contribute to the shaping of coastal territories: symbolic factors, mobility factors, and environmental factors. In this apparent paradox, we recognise how the gateway – originally conceived to serve an infrastructural system – may, in certain cases (those that most interest us here), outlive the collapse of that very system. This occurs, perhaps not coincidentally, where infrastructure and city coexist in an integrated way. On this basis, we propose to reflect on projectual approaches that may enhance the potential of water gateways as catalysts for the production or requalification of surrounding urban space, while also serving as agents for the [re]activation, [re]invention, or [re]signification of obsolete, decommissioned, or underused territorial systems and infrastructures.

Topic 01 – Water gateway as symbolic device

The first line of research addresses the inherent capacity of urban gateways to function as symbolic references in the construction of the identity of cities and territories. This value stems from the association between the gateway and the monument, capable of assigning meaning to places from both a symbolic and narrative perspective. The collective recognition attributed to these elements allows for the construction of territories rooted in shared imaginaries, which prove decisive for the effective cohesion of cities, regions, countries or even larger geographical entities.
As a recurring feature in the history and imagination of architecture and the city, the gateway possesses the ability to guide us along an uninterrupted temporal line. It enables a transversal perspective on that fascinating artefact we call the city, revealing how – perhaps since the very beginning – its meaning derives from its relationship with other cities. In this sense, the notion of urban and territorial network is as ancient as the idea of the city itself, and the relationships between cities are built through the metaphor (and physical reality) of their gateways.
It is equally clear that technological development and urban evolution have always gone hand in hand. And although it is certain that we will continue to live in cities (perhaps more intensely than ever), the question remains open as to whether the core experience of urban dwelling has truly changed in substantial terms.
What certainly has not changed is the fascination we feel for proximity to water, for the monumental scale of port artefacts, for the variety and dynamism of ships and their eloquent dialogue with the urban fabric – for those places where it is still possible to see trains laden with containers cross the streets to which they too belong. In short, these are extraordinary places, embodying the original impulse of humanity as a citybuilding species.
All these contradictions and apparent anachronisms generate the unique urban vibration that coastal cities continue to offer, standing out – as they always have – for their resistance to conformism and thus becoming an inexhaustible source of inspiration for those engaged in the project of the city and the territory.

Topic 02 – Water gateway as mobility device

One of the most distinctive features of the contemporary condition is the deformation of space in relation to time. Space has become an elastic component in a daily life measured in seconds – a condition made possible by a complex, energy-intensive technological apparatus. Marketing imagery tells us how we are meant to inhabit the 21st century: a bare table, a laptop, a mug – the toolkit of the digital nomad – all in immaculate white. This aseptic environment seems to confirm a growing human capacity: to render discomfort invisible. Yet this apparent simplification – between digitalisation and electrification – demands ever more space and energy, generating an astronomical proliferation of solar plants, wind turbines, cables, mining operations and vast data centres. In this highly digitalised world, it can be argued that dwelling remains analogue, and space continues to be fundamental.
This second line of research focuses on the capacity of urban gateways to articulate different scales and speeds. The gateway, understood as a terminal of access to an infrastructural network, assumes a literal dimension: access to a transport network, an energy network, a data network. Mobility is one of the main structuring axes of territories, concerning both regional commuting flows and the geographies of supply and consumption. In this light, the urban gateway becomes a fixed and referential axis within a moving territory.
Water gateways, due to their infrastructural nature, have always been places of functional and programmatic accumulation and overlap. They are logistics centres, markets, piers, customs houses, boarding stations, multifunctional platforms that enable transfer and connection across the various systems that sustain the city. These urban devices provide tangible spatial and material form to realities that often seem remote, concealed or abstract. One of the most compelling aspects of such places is their historical capacity to catalyse urbanity, establishing themselves as true urban epicentres. The water gateway is an urban element that has proven, across centuries of continuous use, its effectiveness in accommodating a wide variety of uses, revealing an exceptional adaptability to technological and societal change. It is clear that these urban elements deserve renewed attention for what they can teach us and offer to the future of cities and coastal territories – yet also far beyond.

Topic 03 – Water gateway as an environmental device

Coastal cities are under immense pressure, arising from the combination of their strong appeal and the environmental challenges they face. The form of the coastal city is shaped by the interaction between dynamic processes that define coastlines – sediment drift, deposition, erosion, currents, tides – and a specific mode of inhabiting such territories, centred on the exploration and optimisation of their resources. In these regions, the anthropogenic transformation of extensive systems is particularly evident and must be recognised as the outcome of human agency, embodying deep knowledge about integration – and inevitable conflict – between the city and the environment.
This third line of research explores the concept of the water gateway as a device of environmental egulation.
This concerns the impact of major industrial or port infrastructures and their future, but also includes structures associated with food production – such as salt pans, aquaculture facilities, or fishing equipment (both artisanal and industrial) – which deeply affect the contemporary coastal landscape and represent a significant legacy for the urban culture of these places. Emblematic in this regard is the role of proto-industrial structures such as tide mills which, through their dykes and basins, form ingenious systems that harness the potential energy of the tides. Though now obsolete and abandoned, these devices still autonomously maintain navigable channels within estuarine systems – demonstrating a surprising capacity for exaptation.
Tidal estuaries and delta systems offer a remarkable example of integration between environmental dynamics and urban form. It is no coincidence that some of the most densely populated areas on the planet correspond to such territories. In these contexts, emerging urban challenges continuously confront a cultural heritage that reflects centuries of adaptation to extremely dynamic sites. Through the design of these urban waterfronts, efforts are now being made to address the challenges of climate change via hard strategies (raising the ground level of public squares, building walls and engineered defences) or soft approaches (hybrid solutions, erosion-led strategies, mitigation through vegetation systems and cultivation).
In this post-productive era, a new perspective is taking shape for such territories, grounded in their potential within a knowledge-based society – where research and education are central pillars in the pursuit of innovation in the fields of ocean studies, healthcare, new materials, and even space exploration.
Water gateways have always played a crucial role in articulating the relationships between cities and territories: they are extraordinary platforms for ocean exploration, but also key devices in the everyday life of the city. These characteristics remain unchanged, confirming their ongoing relevance and – above all – their importance as urban tools for envisioning the future of cities.

Participation Guidelines

To take part in the Call for Abstracts, you must submit a proposal in either Italian or English (only one per applicant, and mandatory in English for non-Italian speakers) within the specified deadlines and following the required format (the format must be downloaded from the website):
Title (max 100 characters), Subtitle (max 150 characters),
Field of Research (01/02/03),
Abstract (max 2500 characters),
Up to 2 optional images with captions (images must be copyright-free or accompanied by publication permission from the authors).
The abstract must be sent via email to editorial.seascape@gmail.com with the subject line: “Abstract- Seascape 07-Surname”. Submissions via other methods will not be considered.

Fees

Selected articles will be published upon payment of a symbolic fee.
For more information on costs, please visit: https://seascape.it >> Publish with us

Timeline

– Saturday, October 4, 2025_ Deadline for abstract submission.
– Saturday, October 11, 2025_ Notification of results and start of the writing phase for submissions to undergo double-blind peer review.
– Saturday, November 15, 2025_ Deadline for submission of full papers.

For information

web site: http://www.seascape.it
editorial.seascape@gmail.com