{"id":5778,"date":"2023-07-11T15:22:30","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T15:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/circularports.vlaanderen-circulair.be\/?p=5778"},"modified":"2026-04-03T13:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:19:18","slug":"port-city-atlas-how-mapping-can-help-to-better-understand-european-port-city-territories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.sidekick.be\/circularports\/port-city-atlas-how-mapping-can-help-to-better-understand-european-port-city-territories\/","title":{"rendered":"Port City Atlas: How Mapping Can Help to Better Understand European Port City Territories"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 30 June 2023, the new Port City Atlas (nai010 publishers, Netherlands) was officially launched<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>
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Understanding the unique spaces of port city territories, where global flows meet local geographies, topographies, histories and practices, requires a unified approach to visualisation, specifically mapping a large number of territories in a unified way. Such an approach can help us to understand the relationships between sea and land, and between port, city and territory. It also helps us to examine the relationship between multiple port city territories as part of international trade networks and can facilitate the identification of ‘gaps’ (<\/strong>Hein & Van Mil 2020<\/strong><\/a>) where spatial, institutional or cultural opportunities and challenges exist, and where planning can be of a benefit. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

With the publication of the Port City Atlas, the authors introduce a new conceptual and methodological approach to international comparative research that bridges different disciplines and fields, and which serves as a catalyst for new scientific and professional explorations of the impact of ports on cities and territories.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Looking at port city territories from the perspective of the sea<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Europe is a continent surrounded by water on three sides, with major seaports and metropolises along its coasts. Public and private responses to current crises such as climate change, rising sea levels and migration depend on coordinated approaches along Europe’s coasts. Yet Europe’s maritime borders are rarely recognised as part of European policymaking and identity formation. The internal focus on nation states, national borders and European unification has distracted policy makers and stakeholders from a maritime perspective of the continent. However, looking from sea to land, we can recognise seaports and their unique role in shaping Europe’s future. Moreover, we can consider the port and its adjacent port city, the marine foreland and the terrestrial hinterland as a distinct type of space:\u00a0the port city territory<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

With the\u00a0Port City Atlas,<\/em>\u00a0we highlight these territories as key actors, key locations and potential stewards of the future of water. In doing so, we use a\u00a0sea-based approach<\/strong>\u00a0that considers water as a key link between ports, cities and surrounding territories, for human life and for navigation – overcoming traditional land-based approaches that depend on national borders. This perspective helps us bridge national differences and opens up a crucial new opportunity to address today’s challenges of the climate crisis, the energy transition, migration and numerous water-related emergencies, and to address today’s challenges at the land-sea interface in a coordinated way. However, this perspective also shows that stakeholders in these territories are diverse and numerous, that there is a lack of governance at the territorial level, a lack of methodologies to fully understand these territories, and that the important impacts of ports on territorial development are not yet fully understood.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Mapping as a tool for the study of port city territories<\/h3>\n

Conceptualising contemporary port city territory – its form, governance and culture – as unique and developing methods to visualise the multiple flows, institutions and practices that occur in these territories is the first step in our new methodological approach to understanding and planning coastal areas. In the\u00a0Port City Atlas,<\/em>\u00a0we argue that visualising quantitative and qualitative data in maps and infographics can provide a basis for comparative analysis that goes beyond case study approaches, which are often embedded into national contexts, selected languages or monodisciplinary approaches (Hein & Van Mil 2019<\/a>). Accordingly, a comprehensive\u00a0(geo)spatial mapping approach<\/strong>\u00a0enables the exploration of a single port city territory as part of a larger system of maritime and transport connections, as well as standardised comparisons between territories. In addition, mapping can serve as a so-called ‘gap finder’ – a tool to identify transitional territories that often cross institutional boundaries without strong, mutually supportive governance frameworks, legal systems and planning policies.<\/p>\n

To study European port city territories in the light of their global, national and local contexts, we have used a\u00a0multi-scale approach<\/strong>\u00a0and defined three levels of spatial interest: Europe, the four maritime waters of the European continent and the port city territory. The European scale means that all port cities are part of the same overarching political entity, with corresponding legislation, regulation and a common European history. Maps at this scale show how the port city territories are connected by water and land, and how they relate to each other, their geographical, topographical and political context, and the European trade network (using data on global shipping routes and other sea-based networks, digital elevation models, population densities and inland transport links). At the same time, nations are very diverse, and their borders have changed over time. By adding a second scale and exploring the port city territories within and between the four waters surrounding Europe – the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea – we have identified particular constellations and conditions, such as natural geographical conditions (through coastal morphology and bathymetry data), cultural and political settings, and their position in maritime networks, which are different for each body of water. The third – and most prominent – scale in the atlas is the port city territory, which captures the spatial relationship between the port, the adjacent city and the surrounding landscape, as well as their geographical location and urban patterns, transport networks and institutional boundaries.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Find more details about the Port City Atlas<\/h3>\n

This book is the outcome of a long effort to raise awareness of maritime flows across sea and land, through ports, cities, and territories. All three editors are members of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) PortCityFutures Centre, directed by Carola Hein, who also leads the recently established UNESCO Chair Water, Ports and Historic Cities hosted by the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus University consortium.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Designed as a reference work, the\u00a0Port City Atlas<\/em>\u00a0offers a new perspective on port cities and is the first volume in a series of maps of port territories. A second volume will explore the social, environmental and spatial relationships in port city territories along rivers and canals that provide important links inland. As a next step, this methodology can be used as a basis for exploring how historical events have shaped contemporary development patterns in different port city territories; and for developing collaborative approaches to support ports that serve nearby territories as well as distant forelands and hinterlands through citizens\u2019 engagements.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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To the publication<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>