Trieste. New Challenges and Opportunities in the Relational Dynamics between City and Port

The case of Trieste is particularly significant in the study of the relational dynamics between city and port, above all if the changes, occurred over the last two decades in the geopolitical and economic context, and the following aspects are taken into account: EU enlargement towards East; increase in the traffic flows between East and West and between North and South; shift of the economic barycentre and new central role of the Mediterranean sea; EU policies and envisaged reinforcement of paneuropean infrastructural networks; impacts on port cities in terms of policies, plans, projects. After a short reconstruction of the role of the port in the formation and growth of the city, the current situation is presented showing light and shade, but also new opportunities and challenges to face in order to regain the key function of strategic junction in the relations between the Mediterranean basin and Central and Eastern Europe, in search of a delicate equilibrium between global and local levels.