Mikaela Rands
Design & Communications Consultant, Seattle, USA
Eliane Schmid
C2DH, Université du Luxembourg, Luxembourg
PACT Launches its New Website: A Digital Hub for Port City Energy Transitions
Port City Territories in Action (PACT) is excited to announce the launch of its official website www.pact-costaction.eu. This digital presence represents a significant milestone for the project, which officially kicked off on October 24th, 2024. PACT is a COST Action supported and funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST).
What is PACT?
The COST Action CA23138 PACT – Port City Territories in Action: A Collaborative Laboratory for Inclusive Energy Transition – addresses the critical challenges of energy transition in port city territories.
Ports have historically served as vital hubs for energy transport and transformation, particularly of fossil fuels. Today, they stand at the forefront of implementing renewable energy solutions. Situated at the dynamic interface between sea and land, ports function as powerful engines of economic development. These multifaceted spaces — where social, cultural, and environmental forces converge — are uniquely positioned to pioneer sustainable, inclusive transitions that reach far beyond technological solutions alone.
Approach and Objectives
PACT aims to develop collaborative, value-driven methodologies to examine the spatial and socio-cultural implications of energy transition. The project is structured around six key objectives:
- Mapping: Collecting and organizing data on port city territories to understand their spatial, environmental, and socio-cultural dynamics for holistic energy transition approaches.
- Reframing: Reimagining port-city-community relationships through collaborative governance and inclusive solutions that accelerate sustainable energy transitions.
- Co-Creating: Bringing diverse stakeholders together to develop practical strategies tailored to each port city territory's unique challenges.
- Including: Encouraging participation from local communities, marginalized groups, policymakers, and industry leaders in shaping equitable, sustainable futures.
- Envisioning: Crafting inspiring, evidence-based visions for the future of port city territories.
- Transmitting: Sharing findings and lessons learned across Europe to help other port city territories implement effective energy transitions.
Through these objectives, PACT is developing a comprehensive toolbox for participatory planning and knowledge co-production, inspired by and tested through six pilot projects.
Pilot Projects
PACT’s activities, networking, and collaborative work are grounded in six pilot studies located across Europe: Dubrovnik, Le Havre, Limassol, Lisbon, Livorno, and Rotterdam. These sites function as laboratories for exploring energy transition strategies in diverse port city contexts.
PACT members working on the pilot projects aim to foster collaboration between ports, cities, and stakeholders through public events and joint activities. In this way, the pilots enable knowledge exchange and testing of the PACT Framework across different spatial and socio-cultural environments. The insights gained through this work directly contribute to developing PACT’s innovative toolbox. These six European ports serve as models for implementing socially just and sustainable energy transitions that can inspire similar transformations throughout Europe.
Working Groups
Since the launch in Brussels, the Management Committee members have formed and framed five specialized working groups, each led by teams of two coordinators. These interdisciplinary teams address key dimensions of port city transitions, exploring critical topics such as data analysis, stakeholder collaboration, and innovative energy solutions. Together, these groups make up the foundation of PACT's research and action framework.
The working groups also welcome new members on a rolling basis. PACT is committed to accommodating diversity across geographical regions, career stages, and gender. This commitment to inclusivity strengthens PACT’s approach and ensures that a multiplicity of perspectives informs our collaborative research and outreach.
PACT Goes Online
The newly launched website is PACT’s first public output. Mikaela Rands, PACT’s designer and website creator, developed a branding concept, logo, and color scheme from the ground up. This visual identity reflects PACT’s core goals and values. The logo, with its four interconnected tiles, encompasses what is dear to this network: collaboration, sustainable energy transition, ports, and cities.
The website serves as a comprehensive resource to provide information about PACT in an accessible and straightforward manner. Visitors can learn about the profiles of PACT’s working group leaders and members, read about the six pilot projects, and find contact details for direct engagement within the network. Updates on upcoming events, including the first in-person meeting in Paris (online participation is also possible) and the follow-up meeting connected to the Blue Water Forum in Limassol (to be announced), are under the ‘Events’ page.
Join PACT and Stay Informed
PACT welcomes new members at any time. Networking, researching, writing, presenting, reaching out, building relationships, etc. are undertaken on a voluntary basis, driven by a collective belief in the importance of facilitating inclusive energy transitions in port city territories.
There are multiple ways to engage with the PACT community:
- Follow us on LinkedIn and Bluesky for regular updates
- Share your own images of ports on our Flickr account so we can create a database of our beloved ports
- Subscribe to the PACT newsletter through the website
- Reach out directly to individual working group leaders with any ideas or questions
This spring, PACT will announce a call for contributions as an additional opportunity for collaboration and outreach. Stay connected through our website and social media channels to receive these updates as they become available.
Acknowledgments
This blog post has been written in the context of discussions in the LDE PortCityFutures research community. It reflects the evolving thoughts of the authors and expresses the discussions between researchers on the socio-economic, spatial and cultural questions surrounding port city relationships. This blog was edited by the PortCityFutures editorial team: Yi Kwan Chan. The authors express special thanks to Carola Hein for her valuable comments.
About COST Action
www.cost.eu
COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a funding agency for research and innovation networks. Our Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and enable scientists to grow their ideas by sharing them with their peers. This boosts their research, career and innovation.
This blog is based upon work from COST Action CA23138 – Port City Territories in Action: A Collaborative Laboratory for Inclusive Energy Transition (PACT), supported by COST.
