Cities and port cities have the unique ability to create the conditions for society to prosper. Port cities play a vital role in fostering societal prosperity. However, the growth of port cities poses challenges to the ecosystem and requires a strategic balance of resources. The symbiotic relationship can play out positively but also negatively depending on how the port city goes about with the carrying capacity of the ecosystem to support human activities in a densely populated and highly industrialized port city space. The fragmentation of governance and the interlinkages between adjacent functions on the interface can turn into conflict if not managed well. A reconceptualization is needed to reconnect the relationships between ports, cities, and people.
There is a need for improved governance to manage the port-city interface and the interlinkages between the various stocks of capital—natural, industrial, human, social, cultural, creative capital—and consider the port city space as a ‘common ground’, a shared space with shared responsibilities and shared visioning of future realities. Social and technological innovations are driving socio-cultural shifts in the city. The sense of stakeholder inclusion, bottom-up approaches and open innovation connects well with an emerging discourse on entrepreneurial ecosystems. In this discourse scholars build theories and conduct case studies on sense-making, placemaking, community identification and legitimation processes for port (re)development.
The interplay of human, economic and environmental resources is a critical factor in inclusive port development, requiring sustainable management and improved governance of the port-city interface. Embracing social and technological innovations with a focus on stakeholder inclusion is crucial for the sustainable development of port cities.
PortCityFutures is working on a research agenda for human-centered port development, which addresses the need to bring back the human scale into highly industrialized, automated port territories. A forthcoming project will be on cultural resilience, where we plan to take an outside-in perspective and research the connections between people (living in the city) and the port.
Relevant Research:
- Coming to Terms with Superdiversity: The Case of Rotterdam / Paul van de Laar, Peter Scholten, Maurice Crul (2019)
- Mapping the port education innovation system / Maurice Jansen (2019)
- Pleasurescapes / Paul van de Laar (2019-2022)
- Homeport for Talent / Maurice Jansen, Jeroen van Haaren, Susan Vermeulen (2020)
- Green jobs in the port industrial cluster of Rotterdam / Maurice Jansen, Jeroen van Haaren, Susan Vermeulen, Rosanne van Houwelingen (2022)
- Seafarers’ welfare; out of sight, out of mind? / Maurice Jansen, Hannah Mosmans (2022)
- Labour shortages and accessibility of the port of Rotterdam / Rosanne van Houwelingen, Bart Kuipers, Maurice Jansen (2023)
- Young Maritime Board Talent Survey / Maurice Jansen and Rosanne van Houwelingen (2023)
- “Just Happy Faces”: Cultural Resilience and Circularity in Rotterdam / Yi Kwan Chan (2023)
- Ports as a force for positive change? / Maurice Jansen (2024)
Relevant Projects:
- Port-city Instawalk (Educational Project) / Maurice Jansen, since 2018
- Views from the outside; towards a resilient port city future in Rotterdam / Yi Kwan Chan, 2024
- 2 PhDs on Maritime History / supervised by Paul van de Laar, 2024
Relevant PCF Blogs:
Port-city Development & Transitions
- Next Generation Port-Cities - a new renaissance (Maurice Jansen, 13 Jun 2018)
- Making the next port city of Rotterdam (Amanda Brandellero & Maurice Jansen, 16 Apr 2020)
- A Guggenheim effect for Rotterdam South side? (Maurice Jansen, 29 Jun 2020)
- Beirut Blast: A port city in crisis (Asma Mehan and Maurice Jansen, 11 Aug 2020)
- Taking Sustainable Port Development Seriously: Serious Gaming in the Port of Rotterdam (Maurice Jansen, 21 Sep 2020)
- Global vs Local: How Will We Live Together? (Maurice Jansen, 28 Mar 2022)
- Port city revitalisation in sister-cities Rotterdam and Shanghai (Maurice Jansen and Yueyue Zhang, 19 Jan 2021)
- COVID-19: it is the logistics, stupid! (Paul van de Laar, 21 Jan 2021)
- Port Cities: Clusters of Risks, Examples for Anticipation? (Stephan Hauser, 4 Mar 2021)
- Cultural resilience in port cities (Drafting, Yi Kwan Chan, 2024)
Port-city Heritage / Maritime Mindset
- Port-City instawalk, an educator's approach to port-city relations (Maurice Jansen, 2 Nov 2018)
- Researching Historical Entertainment Culture across Port Cities: Why ‘Pleasurescapes’ Matter for ‘PortCityFutures’ (Vincent Baptist, 22 Jun 2020)
- The Role of Port City Images in the Development of Maritime Mental Maps (Winnie Goldsteen, 26 Oct 2020)
- Port City Heritage: Contested Pasts, Inclusive Futures? (Asma Mehan, Hilde Sennema & Saskia Tideman, 7 Dec 2020)
- Eurovision in Rotterdam: Ahoy & Eurovision as Carriers of Identity (Hilde Sennema and Paul van de Laar, 18 May 2021)
- Jeff’s Hef: should Rotterdam take apart a historical bridge to let Jeff Bezos’ superyacht through? (Paul van de Laar, 24 Feb 2022)
- Mariupol, a port city unprotected under siege (Maurice Jansen, 19 Apr 2022)
- The Real Rotterdammer is from Elsewhere! (Paul van de Laar & Peter Scholten, 17 Feb 2023)
Values
- Change of perspective: value-based deliberations for improved port-city relations (Tino Mager, 3 Apr 2020)
- The Shifting Values of Port Cities: Towards “what if histories” and “design fiction”? (Carola Hein, 9 Jul 2020)
- Port cities as hubs of diversity and inclusivity: The case of Rotterdam (Carola Hein, Paul van de Laar, Maurice Jansen, Sabine Luning, Amanda Brandellero, Lucija Azman, Sarah Hinman, Ingrid Mulder, Maurice Harteveld, 9 Jun 2020)
- Rotterdam, have we forgotten about the seafarers? (Maurice Jansen and Hannah Mosmans, 1 Apr 2023)
- Port Development: ‘Doing Good’ or ‘Doing No Harm’ to the Port-City Ecosystem? (Maurice Jansen, 1 Oct 2023)
