The research work carried out by Professor Grindlay Moreno tackles urban centrality of port infrastructures from the process of the relations developed between port and city. In the first place, in general, some characteristic phases, verified and developed in the light of several model cases that illustrate relational processes and their effects, paying special attention, in a last and present urban integration phase of these infrastructures, to causal factors of the development “going more deeply-according to the author of the research work- into the common aspects of these singular operations; all this from the perspective of the recent dialogue between port and city and the consideration of a wide range of experiences of the international movement and its results; dealing, in a particular way, with the Spanish case and the attempts, from the planning, to solve the conflicts”.
In the same way, the work includes the evolution of the relational process and reciprocal interactions in the Spanish coast in the main port cities of the Andalusian Mediterranean: Algeciras, Málaga y Almería, distinguishing several singular phases, as well as the morphologic-structural connections and space interactions that port development has caused in the city, as well as examining the last urban integration operations in relation with the previous study.
This way, Algeciras will appear as a spectacular port development in a privileged geostrategic situation, with a city with which it has hardly interacted from an urban point of view. On the other hand, due to its complex historical development, Málaga will stand out as a paradigm of port city with strong morphologic-structural links intensos between port and city, with its important avenues, traditional parks, new roads and districts. Finally, Almería´s recent port configuration will produce few links between the port and the city and the unitary structure of the dock wil cause a higher development and activity next to the city centre.
Thus, it starts from a review of the classic geographical concepts that define the areas of port influence and proposes an improvement in favour of other, wider, more complex and less deterministic, such as those of port regions. In addition, given its linking and the relevance of port presence in the development of the land transport net, he approaches this territory irradiation process of the ports, both from classic geographical models that have attempted to explain it and its historical evolution around the Andalusian Mediterranean.
According to the author of the work, “the environmental impact of the unequal land modal sharing of port traffic round portsa will be quantitatively valued once the access situation is checked. The economic dimension derived from these commercial relations among ports will predominate in general over the rest of tterritorial aspects as the ambit of the analysis increases. The connection between port traffic and economic activity will be presented through the consideration of the most recent studies of economic impact of port activity, as well as the proposal and analytical development of a simple index derived from the most basic structure of port traffic, which reflects the degree of territorial participation”.
Finally, a general approach on the development and the territorial effects derived from the implementation of fishing ports and yatching harbours is showed. “Al though the object our study is a particular aspect –Grindlay Moreno says—which has hardly been considered, the degree og integration in the littopral landscape, which will be analytically valued establishing the connection between its geometric characteristics by applying some simple parameters and the features of the coast morphology. We will also study coast transformation analysing urban expansion and coast impact”.
Further information: Alejandro Luis Grindlay Moreno. Higher Technical School of Civil Engineering of the UGR. University of Granada. Phone number: 958.24.99.78. Fax: 958-248990. E-mail: grindlay@ugr.es
