Meet the finalists for the first edition of the AIVP Prize Antoine Rufenacht

As planned, members of the Expert Panel met in Brussels on the 6th of September to assess the 23 submitted projects for the 2024 edition of the AIVP Prize Antoine Rufenacht. The experts had to decide which projects should be presented in front of the Grand Jury, which will meet in Le Havre, France, on the 10th and 11th of October for the final step of the winner selection process.

After intensive discussions, the experts decided to nominate 6 projects as finalists. These are:

  • ๐๐ž๐ค๐ค๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ ๐ฌ๐›๐š๐๐ž๐ญ โ€“ ๐๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ ๐™๐จ๐ง๐ž, presented by the Port of Oslo (Norway)
  • ๐“๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ž๐ซ ๐‚๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐€๐ซ๐ž๐š ๐‘๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง, presented by the Development Company for the Reconversion of Tangier Port City area (Morocco)
  • ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐จ ๐๐ž๐ฅ ๐๐š๐ฃ๐จ ๐๐š๐ซ๐ค๐ฌ’ ๐„๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐š๐๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ฅ, presented by Corporaciรณn Antiguo Puerto Madero S.A. (Argentina)
  • ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‹๐จ๐ฌ ๐€๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ ๐–๐ข๐ง๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐–๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ญ, presented by Port of Los Angeles, Harbor Department (Port), a department of the City of Los Angeles (United States)
  • ๐ƒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐š๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐‘๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž’๐ฌ ๐๐š๐ซ๐ค ๐š๐ง๐ ๐’๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐‡๐š๐›๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ญ, presented by the Port of Seattle (United States)
  • ๐‘๐ž๐๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‰๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ ๐๐š๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ, presented by HAROPA PORT | Paris (France)

Next step: the Grand jury meeting

Representatives of these 6 selected applicant projects are now invited to join the Grand Jury meeting. This will be carried out in three stages. Firstly, Carola Hein, as co-chairwoman of the Prize, responsible for the Expert Panel, will share the experts’ conclusions and explain how the finalist applicants were chosen.

Secondly, the Grand jury, under the responsibility of Geraldine Knatz, will interview each shortlisted applicant during a 60-minute meeting that will include a presentation of the project and a discussion between the Grand jury and the candidate. Then the Grand jury will deliberate behind closed doors to choose the winner.

Find out more about the members of the Grand Jury: https://aivp-rufenacht-prize.org/en/international-co-chair/.

About the Expert Panel decision

“The Goal of the AIVP Prize Antoine Rufenacht is to valorize emblematic port city projects that are original and innovative in bringing together port city communities. Experts have evaluated the projects in line with the overarching guidelines of the Prize in terms of innovative governance involving multiple stakeholders, participatory practices that integrate local communities, a long-term vision for the port cities, and innovative engineering concepts that concretely address and mitigate climate change challenges. They paid particular attention to projects that show awareness of history and heritage and the need to establish long-term solutions (governance, space, etc.) as well as tools to evaluate their impact for more sustainable and just port-city integration. More specifically, they looked for projects that inspire new practices and that are models to be replicated in other port cities around the world.

From the left to the right: Sรฉbastien Dupray, Eamonn O’Reilly, Peter Hall, Franรงois Kern, Hilda Ghiara, Isabelle Vries, Carola Hein

Expert Panelโ€™s general thoughts:

โ€˜We need spatial, social port city integration that serves as a foundation for sustainable, socially just projects in the long term.โ€™ Carola HEIN Co-chairwoman of the Prize, responsible for the Expert Panel – Delft (Netherlands)

โ€˜Improving city-port interface is a unique opportunity to adopt a global approach for climate change adaptation and ecological transition, with essential input from engineering.โ€™ Sรฉbastien DUPRAYHead of Risks, Waters, and Sea Technical Division at Cerema – Paris (France)

โ€˜The port is an image of standardization. This can be transformed thanks to port city creativity to bring uniqueness.โ€™Hilda GHIARA – Tenured researcher and Professor, specialist in Maritime traffic, Ports and Regional economy – Genoa (Italia)

โ€˜I was looking for something in each application that could sustain the positive impact of the project over time: how did the project change the relationship between port and city, so that in future they can together address new conflicts, challenges, and opportunities when they inevitably arise?โ€™Peter HALL – Professor and researcher, a specialist in port economics and territorial development – Vancouver (Canada)

โ€˜Good urban projects located at the port city interface, whether small or big, have the power to engage a holistic mutation of the port city.โ€™ Franรงois KERN – Architect and Urban designer – Marseille (France)

โ€˜Creating a genuine and shared global vision between the City and the Port is immensely challenging. The first edition of the Antoine Rufenacht Prize highlights the value of port-city development projects where this challenge has been successfully met.โ€™ – Eamonn Oโ€™REILLY – Former Executive Director of Dublin Port – Dublin (Ireland)

Involving local communities contributes to design projects that benefit both to the port and the city.โ€™ Isabelle VRIES โ€“ Urban planner and senior Advisor – Rotterdam (Netherlands)

About the applicant projects for the 2024 edition of the Prize

23 projects representing the diversity of the world’s port cities have been submitted following the call for applications for the 2024 edition of the AIVP Antoine Rufenacht. All of these projects bring many innovative ideas of how to connect the port and the city and design sustainable port cities. These ideas were from the fields of architecture and urbanism, including engineering solutions or nature intervention.

Discover the 23 applicant projects: https://aivp-rufenacht-prize.org/en/annee/year-2024/.

Find out more about the conclusions of the Expert panel:

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