Lessons in Emergency Infrastructure Governance
for Project Management Practice
PEER REVIEWED PAPER
By João Henrique Pettená do Carmo, PMP®
São Paulo, Brazil
Abstract
On August 14, 2018, the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy, collapsed, severing a critical urban and logistics corridor and creating an immediate emergency infrastructure challenge. The reconstruction that followed became known as the “Genoa Model,” a governance framework for accelerated public infrastructure delivery under emergency conditions. Drawing on public legal instruments, official commissioner documents, institutional technical reports, and independent analytical assessments, this documentary case study examines the governance architecture that supported the delivery of the Genova San Giorgio Bridge within an exceptionally compressed timeframe, despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis is grounded in project governance theory, megaproject governance research, emergency infrastructure delivery literature, public procurement governance, and the Governance Performance Domain of the PMBOK® Guide Eighth Edition. The paper identifies five mutually reinforcing governance elements: unified reconstruction authority, calibrated legislative derogation, collaborative delivery, independent professional project management, and continuous execution discipline. It then assesses the transferability of these elements to the Brazilian infrastructure context, distinguishing between practices that are directly applicable, those requiring institutional adaptation, and those constrained by Brazil’s federative, procurement, and oversight architecture. The article argues that the Genoa Model should not be treated as an unrepeatable exception, but as a documented and partially replicable case of governance designed for urgency, accountability, and execution.
Keywords: Genoa Model; Morandi Bridge; emergency infrastructure governance; project management; PMBOK 8; Brazilian infrastructure; extraordinary commissioner; project governance theory; megaproject performance; public procurement governance.
- Introduction
Infrastructure projects rarely fail for purely technical reasons. As Flyvbjerg (2014) shows in the megaproject literature, they often fail, stall, or underperform because authority is diffuse, accountability is ambiguous, procurement rules generate adversarial relationships, interfaces are poorly managed, and regulatory or institutional bottlenecks accumulate over time. Sanderson (2012) similarly emphasizes the role of uncertainty and governance in major projects, while Brunet (2019) shows that governance is continuously constructed through practice. In this literature, governance failure is not a peripheral concern. It is often the structural condition that prevents technical capability from becoming delivery performance.
The reconstruction of the Genova San Giorgio Bridge between 2018 and 2020 offers a useful counterpoint to that pattern. Following the collapse of the Morandi Bridge, Italian authorities created a purpose-designed governance architecture intended to respond to emergency conditions without simply abandoning accountability. Standard procedures were replaced by an extraordinary legal and administrative framework under the Genoa Decree (Gazzetta Ufficiale, 2018); decision authority was concentrated in an extraordinary commissioner (Commissario Ricostruzione Genova, 2018a); delivery roles were aligned through a collaborative contracting model identified by the Global Infrastructure Hub (2021); and independent project and construction management (PMC) capacity was embedded into execution through RINA’s role (RINA, 2020a; ASCE, 2020).
This paper analyzes that governance architecture through a project management lens. Consistent with documentary case study logic, as described by Yin (2018), it asks which governance arrangements most directly enabled accelerated delivery under emergency conditions; how those arrangements interacted with project execution to sustain performance through the COVID-19 disruption; and which elements of the Genoa Model are transferable, with what adaptations or structural constraints, to the Brazilian infrastructure context. The Brazilian comparison is relevant because the World Bank (2022) identifies persistent infrastructure investment and governance gaps, while PMBOK® 8 offers a contemporary governance vocabulary for project management practice (PMI, 2025a).
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How to cite this paper: Carmo, João H.P. do (2026). The Genoa Model: Lessons in Emergency Infrastructure Governance for Project Management Practice, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue VII, July. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pmwj166-Jul2026-do-Carmo-The-Genoa-Model.pdf
About the Author
João Henrique Pettená do Carmo
São Paulo, Brazil
João Henrique Pettená do Carmo is a Project Manager (PMP®) based in São Paulo State, Brazil, with 19 years of experience across the energy, infrastructure, engineering, and industrial sectors. He holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of São Paulo (USP), an LL.B. from UNISAL/SP, and a Six Sigma Black Belt from Kennesaw State University, with additional specializations in project management from the University of Colorado System and the University of Leeds.
João Pettená has contributed to projects for organizations including AGCO, Boticário, CPFL, General Electric, GLP Properties, Jacuzzi, JBS Seara, Nissin Foods, and Zongshen Machinery. He serves as Brazil Correspondent for the PM World Journal, covering São Paulo and the broader Brazilian market. He has authored professional and academic publications on project, program, and portfolio management, including peer-reviewed contributions to international journals. He is also a Project Manager for the Learning and Development program at the PMI São Paulo Chapter, Campinas Branch.
João Pettená can be contacted at pettena.joao@pm.me
Author profile: https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/joao-henrique-pettena-do-carmo/
