This policy brief showcases a solution to densify and down-size a shrinking city through two actions: on the one hand, stopping old urban operations based on urban sprawl and, on the other hand, reducing new urban operations located in the city-port area which encourage new types of wasteland uses and rejuvenation. These two politics have been implemented since 2017 in Le Havre - a medium-size industrial port city on the west coast of France, coping with economic restructuring and demographic decline. Building on local knowledge and the stakeholders’ experience in implementing this project, this policy brief demonstrates how to develop a solid evidence base to lead to a more compact city that works effectively for the whole area. The key lesson learnt is that to build a resilient urban development a global approach is required, combined with large-scale collaborations and local support, and favoured by a green approach of cities. The brief offers several policy recommendations to enable this process.

3S RECIPE is part of the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe's ERA-NET Cofund Smart Urban Futures Call (ENSUF). This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 857160.