Shipping canals have supported maritime traffic and port development for many centuries. Radical transformations of these shipping landscapes through land reclamation, diking, and canalization were celebrated as Herculean works of progress and modernity. Today, shipping canals are the sites of increasing tension between economic growth and associated infrastructural interventions focused on the quality, sustainability, and resilience of natural systems and spatial settlement patterns. Shifting approaches to land/water relations must now be understood in longer political histories in which pre-existing alliances influence changes in infrastructure planning. On the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the New Waterway (Nieuwe Waterweg), the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus universities PortCityFutures Center hosted an international symposium in October 2022 to explore the past, present, and future of this channel that links Rotterdam to the North Sea. Symposium participants addressed issues of shipping, dredging, and planning within in the Dutch delta, and linked them to contemporary debates on the environmental, spatial, and societal conditions of shipping canals internationally. The thematic issue builds on symposium conversations, and highlights the importance of spatial, economic, and political linkages in port and urban development. These spatial approaches contribute to more dynamic, responsive strategies for shipping canals through water management and planning. ... Read more

The transformation of Pearl River Delta (PRD) is characterized by a complex layering, spatial and temporal differentiation. Its complexity is not only caused by interactions between multiple layers like blue-green spatial structure and urban spatial structure, but also caused by the interactions of several large sub-regions that are mutually interrelated. This paper aims to characterise the spatial structure and its evolution as a basis for the development of spatial strategies for future development. In this research, the combination of multiple spatial–temporal approaches and multiple layer approaches for its spatial structure analysis is employed. Firstly, after mapping the evolution process of the PRD, several important sub-regions are analysed. Secondly, evolution mechanism and driving forces are studied in detail. Thirdly, main existing problems are exposed and the causes of these problems are analysed. Finally, several possible strategies for future land-use schemes of PRD are outlined. It is proposed that the land use of future PRD regions should be divided into three spatial zones and four categories of land use. The goals and measures of development for each land-use category are highlighted in order to make contributions to future planning and design. ... Read more

Kunstmatige verdieping van Nieuwe Waterweg moet teruggedraaid en het havengebied moet vergroenen, stelt emeritus hoogleraar Stedenbouwkunde Han Meyer. ... Read more

In order to provide a sustainable development strategy to ensure the long term survival of coastal and deltaic areas, the lagoon of Venice and the delta of Rotterdam were exanimated for possible alternatives. This article investigated the historical development of the city-water relationship in the two cities. The main focus was on the changes in the sedimentation-erosion relationship and their impact on the position and spatial structure of the city through different periods. It concluded by considering current and future possibilities for influencing the balance between deposition and erosion. In both cases three conclusions can be drawn. 1) Making better use of and responding to the natural tendencies and changes in the regional water system offers prospects for reducing the vulnerability of the urbanised landscape and for radically ameliorating the ecosystem. Crucial to achieving this is the restoration of a stable sediment-water balance.2) This radical change can only occur in combination with a thorough restructuring of the port economy and shipping industry. 3) The history of the relation between city and water system reveals considerable variation in the way in which the natural system of lagoon, delta and estuary has played a role in urban culture and also been critical to withstanding problems like high water and saltwater intrusion. Greater concern for and attention to the historical evolution of the relation between city and river can play a crucial role in strengthening a collective awareness of the importance of a stable sediment-water balance for the urban landscape. ... Read more

This chapter seeks to show how the development of the spatial structure of the Randstad can be regarded as the outcome of three processes: the dynamics of the landscape; the changing economic and technical conditions; and changing societal conditions. The dynamics of the delta landscape and the specific way that people tried to intervene in this landscape and manipulate it created the conditions for a specific spatial structure. The development of the collection of Dutch cities, known as the Randstad, is linked strongly to the position of the territory in the delta of the two rivers Rhine and Meuse. Until the 1960s national politics put a strong emphasis on national economic independence. Overlooking a 1,000-year history of urbanisation of a delta-area, we can see the influential and decisive role of changes in the nature of rivers and sea, and the importance of the way that mankind has tried to deal with these changes. ... Read more

The growth of Rotterdam as a main port is due to two major interventions in the water system: the construction of the Nieuwe Waterweg (New Waterway), completed in 1872, and the additional construction of two parallel canals in the post-war decades. These interventions and their major effects on economic prosperity and urban development can be regarded as miracles. However, the interventions mentioned also had less positive consequences, such as the destruction of an important ecosystem, increasing high water levels in the urban area and strong salt intrusion, which endangers the freshwater supply for drinking water , agriculture and industry. These negative effects will be amplified as a result of climate change and sea level rise, making urbanized delta areas such as the Rotterdam region increasingly vulnerable to flooding, salt intrusion and decrease of biodiversity. A new wonder of Rotterdam is needed, in which again an intervention in the Nieuwe Waterweg can play a key role. Transforming the Nieuwe Waterweg from a deep industrial shipping channel to a relatively shallow green-blue estuary can be a catalyst in a process that makes the region less vulnerable for flooding and salt intrusion, and creates more biodiversity. Simultaneously it will trigger processes of energy transition, circular economy and spatial cohesion. ... Read more

Hoge waterstanden in steden in kust- en deltagebieden leiden sinds de laatste eeuwwisseling tot steeds meer problemen. Niet alleen veel steden in de ‘Global South’, met gebrekkige voorzieningen om zich tegen hoge waterstanden te verdedigen, kampen met toenemende overstromingen. Ook relatief rijke steden in Europa en de Verenigde Staten hebben alle redenen zich zorgen te maken, met de gevolgen van de orkaan Katrina voor New Orleans (2005) en Sandy voor New York (2013) nog vers in het geheugen. In Europa werd recent, in november 2019, de Grande Dame van steden in en aan het water, Venetië getroffen door het ernstigste acqua alta (hoogwater) sinds 1966. Grote delen van de stad stonden langere tijd onder water, met grote gevolgen voor de vele kunstschatten en monumenten, maar ook voor de economie, het welzijn en de bewoonbaarheid van de stad.
Enkele maanden later, in februari 2020, moesten in Nederland, door sommigen ‘de veiligste delta ter wereld’ genoemd, alle zeilen worden bijgezet om een combinatie van hoge waterafvoer door de rivieren en springtij op zee het hoofd te kunnen bieden. De vele rivierbedverbredingen die in de periode 2005-2015 zijn gerealiseerd in het kader van het nationale programma ‘Ruimte voor de Rivier’ konden nu voor het eerst hun nut bewijzen.
Grote delen van het rivierengebied, normaal in gebruik voor akkerbouw en veeteelt of als natuurgebied, werden gecontroleerd onder water gezet, waardoor overstromingen van steden langs de rivieren werden voorkomen. Dit procedé  bleek overal in het rivierengebied succesvol te werken – behalve in de regio Rotterdam, die buiten het programma ‘Ruimte voor de Rivier’ viel en geen voorzieningen kent voor tijdelijke rivierbedverbreding.

Since the turn of the century, high water levels in cities in coastal and delta areas have given rise to ever-increasing problems. It is not just the many cities in the ‘Global South’, burdened with inadequate defences against high water levels, that are having to contend with increased flooding. Even relatively wealthy cities in Europe and the United States, the damage wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (2005) and by Hurricane Sandy in New York (2013) still fresh in their minds, have good reason to be concerned. In Europe, as recently as November 2019, the Grande Dame of water cities, Venice, suffered its worst acqua alta (high water event) since 1966. Large parts of the city were under water for an extended period of time, with huge consequences not only for the city’s many art treasures and heritage structures, but also for the economy, the well-being and the habitability of the city.
Several months later, in February 2020, the Netherlands, dubbed by some ‘the safest delta in the world’, had to pull out all the stops in order to withstand the combined forces of high riverwater discharge and a spring tide at sea. For the first time, the many riverbed widenings carried out in the years 2005-2015 in the context of the national ‘Room for the River’ programme, were able to demonstrate their effectiveness. Largeparts of the river area, normally used for arable and livestock farming or as nature areas, were subjected to controlled flooding, thereby preventing the inundation of cities along the rivers. ... Read more

Deltas are attractive locations for settlements due to their favourable conditions for food production and trade, which historically led to many deltas being urbanised. The urbanisation, polderisation and industrialisation of many deltas increases their vulnerability to climate change. The ‘Water as Leverage’ program aims to formulate innovative, bankable and implementable design proposals for urban water related challenges. This paper presents three design studies for the cities of Khulna, Chennai and Semarang, which are part of the ‘Water as Leverage for Resilient Cities Asia’ program, and seeks to address the complex water management and urban challenges with system-based design proposals. The three projects show how several water management measures on different scales can be combined in integral design proposals that, in addition to addressing climate change, also improve the urban quality and liveability of the cities. ... Read more

Urbanism creates the spatial conditions needed for society to function. The distinction between the public and private domains is fundamental to civil society. The core task of urbanism within that society is designing the urban ground plan, which defines the way land is divided into public and private zones. When that design is being created, developments in the programme and the utilization of space in the city play a role as the public space is designed and furnished and the rules for building are formulated. These four aspects of the task of urbanism (designing the urban ground plan, the programme and utilization of space, the design of public space and the rules for building) should be seen in relation to a fifth aspect: the way the territory is reshaped. How can a new expansion or modification of a city take account of the special conditions and the consequences for the territory itself? Urbanism provides an overview of the foundations of urbanism as a discipline and discusses the relevance of those fundamentals to the challenges of the twenty -first century. This work is based on the centuries of experience and tradition as well as current practice in Dutch urban planning, yet its relevance extends far beyond national borders.se grenzen. ... Read more

‘Delta Urbanism’ is a common field of interest of different disciplines, which discovered the need to work together in order to be able to develop fruitful strategies for the future development of urbanized delta regions. The birth of this collaboration can be dated in the 1980s and 1990s, with the rise of three different fields of concern on the effects of industrial society: the concern on the environmental impact of industrialization, the concern on the alarming state of affairs of cities in these years, and the rising concern on climate change. The development of a real program of Delta Urbanism at TU Delft started in 2005, with the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdamon ‘the Flood’, the Katrina disaster in New Orleans and the start of the new Delta Program in the Netherlands as important driving forces. Important in the Delta Urbanism program is the search for a new ‘Darwinistic’ approach, emphasizing the evolutionary character of delta regions, and adaptivity as a main strategy to survive. This approach should substitute the traditional. Reductionist ‘Einstein’ approach, which is fitting in the dominating paradigm of the industrial society. Delta Urbanism itself can also be considered an evolutionary field of interest: it is under construction continuously. For the future, we can appoint four important issues to be elaborated: a more radical approach of the new adage ‘working with water’, water as a leverage for a complex society in transition; making delta landscapes adaptive, and design as an explorative method. ... Read more

De stedenbouwkunde schept de ruimtelijke condities voor het functioneren van de burgerlijke samenleving. Fundamenteel daarin is het onderscheid tussen openbaar en privaat domein. De kerntaak van de stedenbouwkunde is daarom het ontwerp van de stadsplattegrond, waarmee de indeling van het grondgebied in openbare en private gronden wordt vastgelegd. Bij zo’n ontwerp spelen ontwikkelingen in het programma en het ruimtegebruik van de stad een rol, wordt de openbare ruimte ontworpen en ingericht, en worden regels voor het bouwen geformuleerd. Deze vier onderdelen van het stedenbouwkundig werk (ontwerp stadsplattegrond, programma en ruimtegebruik, ontwerp openbare ruimte en regels voor het bouwen) moeten in relatie worden gezien met een vijfde aspect: de bewerking van het grondgebied. Wat betekent een nieuwe uitbreiding of verandering van een stad voor de bijzondere condities van en de gevolgen voor het grondgebied? Stedenbouw biedt een overzicht van de grondslagen van de stedenbouwkundige discipline en behandelt de relevantie van deze grondslagen voor de opgaven van de 21e eeuw. Het is gebaseerd op de eeuwenlange ervaring, traditie en actuele praktijk van de Nederlandse stedenbouwkunde, maar de relevantie van dit werk reikt tot ver buiten de vaderlandse grenzen. ... Read more

We need to tell a new story about urbanizing delta regions. Historically, large-scale ‘iconic’ hydraulic works and modern industrial ports have been celebrated as showing the power of humans to control and subject nature. The emphasis on this part of cultural heritage tends to bury the remains of engineering and urban development of the previous periods and to erase the ebb and flow of natural processes in the earlier landscape. Instead of emphasizing resistance against nature and victories over nature, we need to embrace mitigation, adaptation, and uncertainty. Many urbanized delta regions, including the Dutch delta, have a rich history of such approaches. We can learn from that history, from the successes as well as from the failures. This chapter is a plea to embrace the dynamic and evolutionary character of delta regions and the cultures of adaptation which have been developed over many centuries. It means that another policy concerning cultural heritage should be stimulated in urbanizing deltas, fostering a heritage with an adaptive approach, not as a complete departure from present ways of doing things, but as a new stage in a centuries-long tradition. ... Read more

Since the 1970s, cities world-wide have been witness to radical de-industrialisation. Manufacturing was considered incompatible with urban life and was actively pushed out. As economies have grown, public officials and developers have instinctively shifted their priorities to short-term, high-yielding land uses such as offices, retail space and housing. Inner-city growth from New York to London and even Seoul have generally come at the expense of land uses such as manufacturing or logistics. Despite the odds, manufacturing is not in terminal decay in western cities. On the contrary, it is at the opening of a new chapter. Urban manufacturing can help cities to be more innovative, circular, inclusive and resilient. Recently, with increasing interest in the circular economy, with cleaner and more compact technology, with more progressive building codes for mixed use, with increasing awareness of the impacts of social inequality and with a clearer understanding of the value chains between the trade of material and immaterial goods, cities across the world are realising that manufacturing has an important place in the 21st century urban economy. While both enthusiasm for making is increasing and the value of manufacturing is becoming increasingly evident in cities, the topic remains extremely complex and challenging to manage. This book attempts to shed light on the ways manufacturing can address urban challenges, it exposes constraints for the manufacturing sector and provides fifty patterns for working with urban manufacturing. This book has been written as a manual to help politicians, public authorities, planners, designers and community organisations to be able to plan, discuss and collaborate by developing more productive urban manufacturing. The book is split into two parts. We first cover an abridged history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, noting how European cities evolved rapidly by harnessing manufacturing, and then how the late twentieth century led to a radical shift in how cities work and think. We’re now at a crossroads between actors that do not see the need for manufacturing in cities and those that consider it vital for a prosperous urban future. Part of the tension comes from the fact that manufacturing is considered a ‘weak land use’ compared to activities such as real-estate development, which has been considered more financially attractive by many actors in the private and public sector. This real estate-oriented development narrative is increasingly regarded as short-sighted, but will not change without an alternative vision. We have therefore elaborated a narrative on how urban manufacturing responds to four specific challenges facing cities and how in turn manufacturing needs cities. In practice, planning and design for a topic like this is highly challenging. ... Read more

Economic and spatial developments of port cities have large impacts on the quality of the natural environment, the safety of people living in the urbanized areas and the fresh water supply for drinking water and agriculture. Creating a proper balance among these different aspects, makes it necessary to provide new concepts and instruments at the regional scale. During the last two centuries, port city development has been defined by the paradigm of the primacy of economic development, which had to be supported and facilitated by engineering and urban planning. Following this paradigm, dynamic and ecologically rich deltas have been transformed into artificial landscapes, resulting in ecological decay, increasing flood risk in urban areas and increasing salinization of surface and groundwater. Because of climate change, these problems in port city regions are increasing exponentially. This paper argues that new approaches should be developed in port city regions, combining ecological repair of delta landscapes by ‘building-with-nature’ methods of hydraulic engineering, with a transition of port city regions related to energy transition and the rise of a circular economy. We need a new paradigm, resulting in an integrated, holistic approach of port city regions, and with governance structures which are able to implement this holistic approach. This paper shows the essence and urgency of this new paradigm, as well as the glimpses of the start of a new approach, illustrated by the developments in two delta regions, which are the home bases of two of the largest port complexes of the world: the Mississippi river delta with the ports of New Orleans, and the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta with Rotterdam and Antwerp. The new paradigm is only possible when the governance system will change at the global, national, regional and local levels. ... Read more

Cities of making assesses the role and current state of manufacturing in three of Europe’s urban centres. Compiled by a consortium of partners in London, Brussels and Rotterdam it forms part of Cities of Making, a thirty-month programme exploring the future of urban based manufacturing in European cities. This report brings together insights about the current state of manufacturing in three European cities – Brussels, London and Rotterdam, each with a distinct industrial heritage. It aims to take a fresh and pragmatic look at the sector and in doing so highlight the challenges and opportunities faced in each of the cities, as well identifying potential for shared learning across the three.It identifies three key areas affecting the sector which warrant further investigation: governance and network models for supporting the sector; opportunities for harnessing resources and technology to develop more sustainable production; and spatial typologies for supporting modern urban manufacturing. ... Read more