Governing the European port–city interface: institutional impacts on spatial projects between city and port

Sustainability agendas are challenging port authorities around the world to find ways to use port assets more efficiently and productively in economic, social, as well as environmental terms. To this end, one of the most strategic port assets is the port–city interface – waterfront zones in which the geography of the port and its city meet each other. In this paper, we explore the relationship between the institutions and governance processes behind spatial projects currently taking place in the interface of four European port cities: Marseille, Barcelona, Hamburg, and Rotterdam. Results show that laws and regulations dominate the spatial outcomes of governance processes between city and port, and that these tend to frustrate experimental efforts towards truly sustainable results. In addition, development orientations that foresee an on-going port migration process away from the urban core are still common among urban planning and policy makers, which impedes on the joint governance processes needed for building renewed, sustainable port–city relations and spatial projects. Contours of such a joint governance process have only been found in the Rotterdam case.

► European port–city interfaces are considered strategic sites for both ports and cities.
► Laws and regulations tend to obstruct sustainable port–city relations and projects.
► Orientations on continuing seaport migration away from urban core common but obsolete.
► Resistance to institutionalized governance process only apparent in Rotterdam case.