Transformations in the global petroleumscape, such as the closure of refineries in Dunkirk, a port city in northern France, can have a huge impact on local economies, livelihoods, and the built environment. Dunkirk was a hub of global petroleum shipping beginning in the 1860s, when the petroleum industry started to shape port cities around the world. As the link between producing sites and the hinterlands of many countries, Dunkirk, like many other port cities, became a privileged place for French and foreign businessmen investing in petroleum activities. The oil industry provided employment and development opportunities on local and regional scales, while impacting the spatial planning and the political life of Dunkirk and other host cities. As one of France’s most important petroleum hubs, Dunkirk took on an urban form that has been greatly influenced by the ups and downs of petroleum sites. This chapter considers the impact of changing economic and spatial conditions on a variety of actors in the French port city. How have these actors adapted, what oil spaces have they created, and with which collaborators and tools? While the refineries closed in 2016, the mark of the petroleum industry remains in the fabric of the city, in the memory of inhabitants who remember oil’s heyday as a time of prosperity, and in the pollution left behind in the soil in sites where uses were never adequately recorded. To better prepare for the future planning of port cities around the world, public and private actors need to understand the long-term influence of the petroleum industry on the governance and spatial characteristics of port cities.@en

Since the mid-19th century, the history of Dunkirk has been closely related to the ebb and flow of oil streams transiting the city; since the mid-20th century, just two major oil companies, BP and Total, have shaped the form and function of the city. Their continual reorganization of the port and its fore-and hinterland—partly in response to changing oil flows and in competition with other ports on the North Sea and in France—has created economic and spatial challenges to local economies and decision-makers. How, specifically, have actors in Dunkirk engaged with and adapted to changing economic and spatial conditions in the past? What kind of oil spaces have they created? These historical precedents shape the ways in which local stakeholders respond to contemporary challenges created by the emergence of new technologies, new work forms and the transition towards new forms of energy systems. Moreover, understanding these dynamics, and the long-term impact of governance and the built environment in Dunkirk, can help us prepare for urban and social system transformation in other (port) cities in North Western Europe and around the world. This chapter draws on a diverse range of materials to piece together a comprehensive understanding of these interventions, as private companies have not done so. In examining how oil companies have shaped Dunkirk, this chapter shows the enormous spatial and economic impact of petroleum trade and transformation, and demonstrates the challange of overcoming that impact. In conclusion, it presents some recent design proposals which imagine how Dunkirk might nonetheless move beyond oil. @en