Register for this session
The Port of Antwerp-Bruges, as the second largest in Europe and a global hub for general cargo, plays a key role in international trade. The city of Antwerp actively promotes this position, branding itself as "the ideal gateway to Europe and beyond," drawing in public and private capital. However, this close relationship between the city and the port has not come without significant social and environmental tensions. For example, the 2021 "forever chemicals" pollution scandal revealed the serious consequences of industrial activities on the surrounding communities, with the issue still under public scrutiny today.
In an effort to counter negative headlines and align with European environmental policies, the port of Antwerp has secured €25 million in EU Horizon 2020 funding for the PIONEERS project. This initiative aims to introduce green technologies and enhance the sustainability of port operations through clean energy production, efficiency improvements, and digital transformation. However, as Dr. Roberta Cucca’s research on urban sustainability and ecogentrification suggests, such ‘greening’ measures often contribute to the displacement of local communities by prioritizing economic and aesthetic gains at the expense of social equity. In the case of Antwerp, this raises concerns about the socio-spatial inequalities exacerbated by these green initiatives, which fail to adequately address externalities like air and noise pollution, waste management, and chemical contamination.
Thinking more broadly, Dr. Elizabeth Sibilia's research on market assemblages in the global maritime sector will offer insights into the ways in which multi-scaled stakeholders conceptualize and operationalize maritime and ports-spaces and economies in the name of sustainability, energy transition, and decarbonization.
Moreover, Dr. Borja Nogué Alguero’s expertise in the political economy of urban development sheds light on the inherent tensions between large-scale infrastructure projects, like those at the port, and the pursuit of more inclusive urban transformations. His perspective will provide a deeper understanding of how ports like Antwerp position themselves within the global economy while exacerbating local inequalities.
This session will critically examine how the port's efforts to green its operations contribute to the exclusion of marginalized groups, rather than fostering genuine sustainability. By untangling the green economy narrative, the session will explore the hidden costs of such initiatives and encourage a dialogue on how to create more equitable and inclusive urban environments.
Invited speakers
Dr. Roberta Cucca an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, where she teaches Urban Sociology. Prior to this, she held positions as a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Vienna, an Assistant Professor at the Polytechnic of Milan, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto. Her research primarily focuses on socio-spatial inequalities in cities and urban governance for just transitions, with particular interest in green gentrification and school segregation. Currently, she is involved in the EU Horizon Project RehousIn, which investigates housing inequalities in the context of the green and digital transition. She serves on the board of RC21 (Urban and Regional Development) in the International Sociological Association
Dr. Elizabeth Sibilia is a human geographer whose research is driven by a commitment to understand the socio-spatial, political-economic, and ecological implications of dynamic maritime geographies. She is a Postdoctoral Fellow working on the ERC project, Between Sea and City: Ethnographic explorations of infrastructure, work, and place around leading urban container ports (PORTS) in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Her PORTS research interrogates energy transition from the port-space perspective to examine Singapore’s role in emerging state-energy-capital assemblages and what they mean for transboundary energy geographies and processes of uneven development. Her dissertation work on shipbreaking has been featured in Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, Focus on Geography, and in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, and her PORTS research, featured in Anthropologica. She is currently a Guest Editor for the forthcoming themed issue focusing on ‘Ports in Motion’ in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space.
Dr. Borja Nogué-Algueró holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Technology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In his work, he draws from the fields of political ecology, ecological economics, and environmental history in linking marine sustainability concerns with debates on emerging degrowth scholarship, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean. He is a member of the association Research & Degrowth International and currently works as a postdoc at the Sociology Department of the University of Gothenburg, looking at the structural drivers of marine plastic pollution.
Moderator
Chiara Fracasso has a background in public management and political economy, specializing in ecological economics. Currently, she serves as a junior policy officer at Seas At Risk, a marine protection NGO that represents over 30 European NGOs in Brussels, as well as in global forums such as the IMO, UNFCCC, and ISA. With nearly two years of experience, she focuses on the impacts of shipping—not only regarding greenhouse gas emissions and the marine environment but also on coastal communities and supply chains beyond Europe. Driven by a passion for justice, Chiara seeks to understand the interconnections of crises and the systems that create them, applying a systemic approach to both analysis and solutions.