The journal promoted by RETE invites researchers, academics and professionals to contribute to its 2026 editorial programme, with a general Call for Papers on Research Themes and a Special Issue dedicated to “Landscapes of Port Clusters”.
PORTUSplus, the scientific journal promoted by RETE and dedicated to the study of port-city relationships and urban waterfront redevelopment, has launched a new call for papers aimed at the international academic, research and professional community.
The initiative seeks to encourage new contributions on the complex transformations currently shaping port cities, waterfronts, logistics systems, urban-port interfaces and port territories. Through this call, PORTUSplus reinforces its role as a platform for scientific exchange, interdisciplinary reflection and the dissemination of applied knowledge on the evolving relationship between ports and cities.
The 2026 editorial programme includes, firstly, the general Call for Papers “Research Themes”, open to contributions on the main areas of interest of the journal. These include the history of port cities; economy and business; contemporary port cities and new port-city relations models; future scenarios, planning and prospects; heritage in urban-port waterfronts; architecture and port city landscape; urban-port development and environmental sustainability; culture and identity; port-city didactics; infrastructures, transport, intermodality and logistics; port-city territory; and contemporary port cities and new models of port-city relationships.
The promotion and submission process for this general call will remain open until September 2026, followed by the peer-review process and the copyediting and production phase, scheduled between September and December 2026.
PORTUSplus is also promoting the Special Issue “Landscapes of Port Clusters: Rethinking Port-City Territories in a Networked Era”, coordinated by Guest Editor Antoine Beyer. This special issue invites contributions that examine how port clusters are reshaping contemporary port-city territories, generating new spatial patterns, hybrid interfaces, logistics geographies and governance challenges.
Potential topics for this Special Issue include the spatial and territorial configurations of port clusters; governance and institutional transformations from systems to clusters; port-city-territory interfaces; infrastructure networks and logistics integration across scales; environmental transitions and sustainable port clusters; methods and tools for the spatial analysis of port clusters; and comparative perspectives and future scenarios for clustered port-city regions.
For this Special Issue, abstracts may be submitted until July 2026, while full papers may be submitted until September 2026. The peer-review, copyediting and production stages will be carried out between September and December 2026.
With this call, PORTUSplus invites authors to submit original papers, research results, case studies and good practices that contribute to a better understanding of port cities as complex, adaptive and spatially embedded systems. The journal particularly welcomes interdisciplinary approaches from architecture, urban planning, geography, maritime studies, logistics, environmental sciences, history, economics, governance and related fields.
Carola Hein, Scientific Director of PORTUSplus, and Oriana Giovinazzi, Editor in Chief of PORTUSplus, have encouraged RETE members, universities, research centres and professionals working on port-city issues to actively participate in this new editorial phase and to help disseminate the call through their academic and institutional networks.
Further information and submission guidelines are available at:
