‘A New City in the Port’

An actor centered institutional analysis of the strategic governance and planning process around Amsterdam Haven-Stad

Master thesis (2019)

Authors

F.A. Pliakis Architecture and the Built Environment

Contributors

T.A. Daamen Urban Development Management - Architecture and the Built Environment (supervisor 1)
E. Louw Land Development - Architecture and the Built Environment (supervisor 1)
M.G.F. Overschie Management Support (supervisor 2)
Faculty
Architecture and the Built Environment
Copyright: © 2019 Filip Pliakis
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Published Date

18-04-2019

Language

English

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Faculty

Architecture and the Built Environment

Abstract

In December 2017, the municipality of Amsterdam announced the development of a new city in its port: Haven-Stad. The plan comprises a redevelopment strategy to transform port lands towards a mixed use urban area with up to 70.000 dwellings. This announcement caused a conflict between port users and the city. This integration of various stakeholders and interests is key for successful urban area redevelopment, especially in the complex port-city interface. Goal of this thesis is to understand and learn from the presumed conflict between port and city in the case of Amsterdam. Therefore, an actor-centered institutional analysis was conducted of the strategic governance and planning around Haven-Stad. The level of integration between scales, sectors and agencies per outcome of each planning phase was measured and then set against the analysed institutional setting. This research identified various socio-cultural, legal-economic and governance factors in the institutional setting that affect plan making in the port-city interface. Various subjects, such as relaxed environmental regulations, decentralized urban planning and change of the political landscape have contributed to unintegrated planning and conflicts. The municipality has a culture of blueprint strategic urban planning and is focused on integrating different departments and solving an ongoing housing crisis. On the other hand, the fact that the port is fossil fuel based and corporatized -but municipally owned- limited its ability to prevent urban takeover. This thesis recommends the development of a true and joint port-urban vision, the enhancement of cooperation between local, regional and national stakeholders and the involvement of private parties and port users in plan making. In an outlook towards the introduction of the new Environment and Planning Act, this research indicates that decentralized and flexible planning instruments may increase the chance for potential conflicts in industrial and waterfront redevelopment areas.