Europe is a continent surrounded by water on three sides, with major seaports and metropolises along its coastlines. Each of these waters is different in terms of depth, water quality or role in global shipping, and their unique characteristics have influenced the planning of coastal and port city developments on their edges. Looking at Europe from the water allows us to study how people have adapted the spatial configuration of their port city territories to the characteristics of their neighbouring waters, and to identify similarities and differences in the development of port city territories on a single sea, across seas, rivers or river networks. We argue that such a historical perspective on planning offers decision-makers new insights into the complex territories at the water/land interface and the challenges for future planning in Europe and beyond. Mapping can help us overcome the limitations of historical boundaries and institutions that shape planning and act as a ‘gap finder’, identifying spatial, institutional or functional opportunities and challenges and where planning can be beneficial. In the context of Europe, we argue that the internal focus on nation states, national borders and European unification has distracted policy makers and stakeholders from a multi-scale and maritime perspective of the continent. Crossing borders, exploring territories from sea to land, highlights the unique role of seaports in shaping Europe, past, present and future. By exploring the conceptual and methodological underpinnings of the Port City Atlas, this presentation provides an insight into the role of mapping in planning history.@en

During the 1960s, a rift between urban planners and architects increased as the first group relied on data and other facts, whereas as the second was led by artistic considerations. The two inaugural lectures of Willem Steigenga and Sam van Embden, published in English for the first time in this booklet, are important testimonies to this rift. Steigenga, originally a social geographer, was appointed in 1962 at the University of Amsterdam. He paid little attention to questions of architecture and beauty. In 1964, Van Embden became professor at the Delft Institute of Technology (TH Delft) - where he had studied under the influential Professor Granpré Molière - and dedicated his speech to the importance of form in town planning. The two lectures are preceded by an introduction written by Yvonne van Mil and Arnold van der Valk.@en

The Atlas was created within the LDE PortCityFutures research group and the Faculty of Architecture TU Delft. It is part of the series on the Urbanization of the Sea, and the kick-off of a sub-series on Mapping Port Cities > An analytical study on the complexity of port cities in Europe A multitude of port cities dots Europe’s coastline, all serving the purpose of facilitating maritime transportation. Over millennia, public and private leaders have built harbours, urban spaces and infrastructures in diverse territories to serve hinterlands, including landlocked capital cities and metropolitan areas. As nodes on the edge of water and land, port city territories embody knowledge on maritime flows and water conditions. At a time of climate change, they can be paradigms and stewards of sustainable development. Taking a comprehensive, mapping based approach, Port City Atlas visualizes 100 port city territories located on four seas and connected through shared waters. It provides a foundation for comparative analysis beyond case study approaches that are often locked into national contexts, select languages or disciplinary approaches. Conceived as a work of reference, the book makes the case for a sea-based approach to the understanding and design of Europe.@en

‘Ons land is in een periode gekomen, waarin de zorg voor het in stand houden van een goed leefmilieu aan overheid en maatschappij meer dan vroeger ter harte moet gaan. Het besef daarvan dringt algemeen door.@en

Port cities around the world have long facilitated trade and the exchange of people. They have developed as part of a network with mirroring facilities for storage, trade and housing in each location. Many of these cities have developed over centuries and share long histories and extensive heritage sites. In this chapter, we argue that while it is relevant to study the reconstruction of a particular waterfront or urban area, it is also important to analyze these projects in the wider context of sea and land, port and city, as part of global maritime networks, and to assess the role that contemporary ports can play in sustainable development of port cities. We argue that the UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach is particularly appropriate for exploring the links between port cities and their heritage in individual cities and for examining the maritime links between cities and using these to inspire preservation and new development activities. The chapter proposes a new socio-spatial methodology, the datawheel, with the aim of collecting existing knowledge and developing new knowledge, values, attitudes and preferences related to historic cities and their heritage. Through the use of historical geospatial mapping (HisGIS), which overlays different, abstract data layers and uses a uniform legend, the chapter briefly explores Rotterdam, Hamburg and London as port cities with changing spatial and institutional constellations in a way that develops a new framework for research on heritage and sustainable development.

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Centuries of trade have left their traces in the culture and society of port cities. This paper explores the usefulness of the concept “maritime mindset” to recognize these traces, and analyses it from different disciplinary perspectives. In the second part, it proposes the practice of “deep mapping” as a methodology of identifying and documenting expressions of maritime culture and trade in public space. In conclusion, it addresses some questions that are crucial when addressing a maritime mindset, such as whether it is a top-down or bottom-up mindset, which spatial scale it entails, and whose values and interests the mindset represents. Ultimately, we argue that (deep) mapping can play a role in producing a more layered spatial, social and cultural understanding of the complex nature of port cities.@en

Ports are clearly demarcated structures on land and water. They are fenced in, easily recognizable on satellite and orthophoto images, and they have specific functions. This apparent clarity of ports, their function and outline, in relation to nearby urban and rural areas, becomes more complex when explored through the lens of land use, that is the existing and planned future functional dimension or socio-economic purpose of the land. In contrast to urban and rural areas, where land use has been mapped and defined for centuries, the use and function of land and water in port areas has long been multifunctional and not defined on land use maps. This raises questions about the role and understanding of port territory in relation to neighboring spaces, past, and present. This article first defines land use and describes its historical development. Scholars from various disciplines, including geographers, planners, and economists, have addressed the issue of land use in port areas. Land use patterns have emerged over time and are based on earlier demarcations of port areas and distinctions between port and city. As shown by the historical port city borders in Hamburg, Rotterdam, and Koper, these delimitations can change over time, by location and by function. The land use register has only recently been harmonized at the European level. European and national registers distinguish existing and planned land use in port areas differently. Mixed uses prevail in new port interventions, creating a new kind of permeability or porosity; that is, areas where port, urban and rural functions merge. New land use porosity is a particular state of land use (on both sides of the boundaries of port areas) that goes beyond the physical boundaries marked by fences. Land use porosity effectively creates land use continuity, a functional porosity that serves as a hidden blueprint for future planning. Understanding land use porosity can provide a foundation for novel approaches to the development of transition strategies that are needed to address contemporary challenges, including climate change and sea level rise, digitization, and new work and life practices in port city regions. In conclusion, we note that due to the porosity of land use patterns, the separation between the present port and the city is beginning to crumble. However, this process has yet to be made fully visible and used as a basis for design.@en

Book review@en

Around the North Sea, how have port cities and cities in the hinterlands of port cities influenced one another in the past? What possible links are there between population trends in various urban areas and time periods? Is it possible to identify the origin of the urbanization patterns around the North Sea? To understand the current era of urbanization, we need to analyze historical trends and urbanization patterns in the long term. By mapping the population figures for eight moments in history and combining this with data on political boundaries and large infrastructures that facilitate flows of goods and people, this article aims to contribute to an improved understanding of contemporary and historical urbanization trends around the North Sea. It also presents the first spatial dataset on urban settlements around the North Sea by means of a series of demographic maps, from 1300 to 2015. It provides a detailed explanation of the method used for mapping and handling demographical data. Each map is accompanied by a brief explanation of the urbanization pattern, with special attention to identifying demographic and economic developments and possible clarifications for centers of gravity and shifts. The maps lay the foundation for further research on social patterns and spatial developments in urban (port) regions around the North Sea and for understanding urban culture through space and time. Port cities must be analyzed from the perspective of the sea, which requires a rethinking of data sets and data borders, to understand the ways in which these port cities have served as porous distribution hubs and as transit nodes for boundary-crossing flows.@en

Politicians, planners, and mapmakers have long used mapping to depict selected spaces, to document natural and humanmade changes within them, and to identify spaces where planning intervention is needed or can be helpful. Recent innovations involving big data, GIS-based research and digital datasets offer opportunities for maps and mapping that can lead to a better understanding of the interrelation of spatial, social, and cultural elements over time and to facilitate planning. A close analysis of the historic transformation of the built environment (such as land use, land ownership, infrastructures), the development of institutional structures (municipal boundaries) and the narrative that accompanies them (as embedded in maps and plans) through historical geo-spatial mapping can facilitate the identification of ‘gaps,’ where spatial, institutional, or cultural opportunities and challenges exist and where planning can be useful. Such an understanding can provide novel insights into the conditions and complexity of multiple transitions (energy, digital, technological) and provide a better foundation for future design. Our use of geo-spatial mapping to identify ‘gaps’ builds upon the work of Patrick Geddes and Jacqueline Tyrwhitt, who promoted the concept of survey-before-plan. As Tyrwhitt argued in 1950, the consistent overlaying of information can help us see patterns and outliers and derive meaning from huge, complex territories and large amounts of data (Tyrwhitt, 1950b). We can then better identify planning opportunities. Following an analysis of mapping as an analytical tool, we explore questions of sources, time, representation, and scale in the use of mapping at a time of increased availability of data. This article represents an initial effort to analyze the role of mapping as a tool of understanding, communicating, and ultimately planning through the lens of port city regions and their development over time. As a first step, it proposes conducting observations of historical geospatial mapping in port city regions in Europe: the Nieuwe Waterweg in the Netherlands, the Thames in the UK, and the Elbe in Germany. Probing the challenges and opportunities presented by historical sources, questions of representation and scale and data layers, the article concludes by proposing historical geo-spatial maps and mapping as a tool of display and comparative research and as a ‘gap finder.’@en

Many megacities around the world are located in deltas where the possibilities of shipping and the availability of flat fertile lands have attracted large numbers of people, industries and businesses. These areas also face multiple water-based challenges: the provision of clean drinking water, the cleaning of sewage water, subsidence, delivery of water for agricultural and industrial purposes, issues of land reclamation from the sea for agriculture and construction, but also protection against rising sea levels, salination or the need to keep waterways and ports open for shipping. These water-related challenges are interconnected and require coordinated and integrated responses from all stakeholders, city and regional governments, private and public actors, port authorities, as well as NGO’s and citizens. Exploring cities in urban deltas in general and port cities in particular from a long-term perspective shows that these cities have a long tradition of resilience, as diverse public and private stakeholders have developed formal and informal institutional and planning traditions that have allowed them to address and overcome diverse challenges meaningfully, forcefully and rapidly. This paper first proposes that an analysis of resilience in port cities can serve as a foundation for addressing the water-related challenges of the future. It argues that we need knowledge of the spatial and social conditions necessary for developing such systemic and evolutionary resilience. It posits that we need to combine a thorough understanding of socio-spatial patterns of water systems to provide insight into earlier moments of water transitions and into long-term implications of policies and structures and provide a foundation for future design. Taking advantage of the vast number of longitudinal datasets recently digitized or undergoing digitization, we propose to employ a methodology to pursue a multi- and trans-disciplinary analysis. We exemplify it through application of the concept to the theme of water and particularly port cities, calling it the Waterwheel for this specific application. The presentation proposes first steps towards the development of a methodology and presents selected case studies notably from Rotterdam, Hamburg and London to get a better understanding of water culture through the lens of port-city relations. In conclusion, the presentation explores how such a methodology can help explore conflict and consensus around issues of water and heritage through a new water culture that includes a new holistic water management approach in megacities to meet water challenges for livable cities. 1 INTRODUCTION@en

Researchers from multiple disciplines study ports and port cities using various forms of visualization. To better understand port cities’ challenges and opportunities, some use mathematical modeling of economic flows or shipping, while others use geo-spatial mapping of land and water territories. In the visualization of port city regions, economic geography has made especially valuable contributions. However, one limitation of the more quantitative and abstract data-based approaches is that they often fail to consider qualitative aspects and local particularities. Examining the challenges and opportunities of geo-spatial mapping, the article calls for a methodology that parallels abstract quantitative economic modeling of port city regions and their networks with historical investigation of individual port city regions with their specific local challenges and opportunities. The article develops visualizations of the historical development of three port city regions that have developed in relation to each other around the North Sea and that we are using as pilot studies: Rotterdam, Hamburg, and London. The article concludes that this type of geo-spatial analysis can connect quantitative and qualitative approaches, help identify historical forms, spatial structures, and governance patterns with lasting importance for decision-making in port city regions.@en

In Nota Ruimte from 2004 the national government selected five horticulture areas as so called greenports. The government considered these areas of national and international interest and wanted to encourage their special development, in order to make a significant contribution to the Dutch economy. A similar situation occurred during the reconstruction period after WWII. Due to rapid urbanization and need for nature and recreational space the future of horticultural areas become uncertain, especially in the Randstad. To protect the development of these areas the government took spatial measurements, set down in regional plans. This article compares the regional plan of the greenhouse area Westland (1965) with the flower bulb region Bollenstreek (1964). Both plans appeared to have had significant influence on the special development of the regions; they reinforced the differences determined by their geographical location.@en