Posts Tagged ‘Port Cities’

Helsinki: World Design Capital 2012

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

helsinkiHelsinki, partner city in the URBACT CTUR project,  has been designated “World Design Capital” in 2012: as Pekka Timonen, Director of the Helsinki World Design Capital 2012 foundation, said, it is a ‘dynamic’ designation and not a ‘prize’.

Helsinki has been selected by the world design community. Focus is on the use of design for cultural, social and economic development, thus creating an additional visitor interest for Helsinki as a cruise destination. Helsinki was chosen because it is credible, it has a substantial design history, and that design is part of the national identity, providing intelligent solutions for everyday life, and a boost for innovation.

The political commitment and understanding of design is a competitive factor for well being too. Helsinki has over 10 000 design professionals, and design is seen as essential for business, the city has a strategy, and the EU is now taking design onto its agenda, considering design as a competitiveness factor: the new EU design agency is going to be based in Aalto University.

The city believes that design should be ‘embedded in life’, playing a key role. Design is a ‘creative human-centred’ way of approaching things: objects, methods, decision-making, services/public services, in a holistic view. Design is always about people, and about creating a good experience, often solving people’s problems, and concerns all of society: metropolitan areas, governments and NGOs.


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CTUR Project

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Neapolitan pupils discovering the Port of Naples

Friday, May 20th, 2011

portonapoliOne of the activities in the framework of the URBACT CTUR Project is to involve the schools of the city and their 1000 pupils. The President of the Port Authority of Naples, Luciano Dassatti, met 1000 students from  junior schools to talk about the sea and the ports. The project “The Port of Naples meets the schools“ drawn up by the Port of Naples Newsletter staff, was created to communicate the value of marine and port culture, in the way of transforming the port and its multiple protagonists into an educational tool.

Twenty Neapolitan schools (one from each Municipality of the city) enthusiastically joined the project.

After some meetings with the School Managers to examine the points of interest to run alongside the educational programme, the project started:

  • Phase I: The President of the Port Authority, Luciano Dassatti visits the schools to explain to the children the organization of the port;
  • Phase II: the children and their teachers visit the port to gain direct experience. A discussion on the strategic elements of the commercial and passenger terminals, a visit to a ship and the project’s creators explain the port and what it does.
  • This phase finishes with a 30-minute video made by the children from the ten schools that participated in the initiative.

The project started in September in coincidence with the start of the school year and ended in May in the Maritime station in Naples with a final show that  has got everybody who worked on the project together.

The students and teachers were instantly enthusiastic. The schools have visited the port of Naples and the children have asked numerous and interesting questions.
An open laboratory and a window on the world: the port acquires greater value by becoming a place for the exchange of goods from far away places and a centre of teaching. With this project “The Port of Naples meets the schools “, the port demonstrates its cosmopolitan character and openness that is connected to values of professionalism and respect for man.


Fiorinda Corradino
Manager of the Study Office of the Port Authority of Naples
CTUR Partner

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