Urban Planning (ISSN: 2183–

7635) 2023, Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages

259–262
https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.7619

Editorial
Shipping Canals in Transition
Carola Hein 1,*, Sabine Luning 2, Han Meyer 1, Stephen J. Ramos 3, and Paul van de Laar 4
1
Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, The
Netherlands 2 Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University,
The Netherlands 3 College of Environment + Design, University of Georgia, USA
4
Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

* Corresponding author ([email protected])

Submitted: 21 September 2023 | Published: 26 September 2023

Abstract
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 asso‐
ciated 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 inter‐
national 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 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.

Keywords
geoengineering; inland waterways; port territory; ports; shipping and environment; shipping canals; urban canals

Issue
This editorial is part of the issue “Shipping Canals in Transition: Rethinking Spatial, Economic, and Environmental
Dimensions From Sea to Hinterland” edited by Carola Hein (Delft University of Technology), Sabine Luning (Leiden
University), Han Meyer (Delft University of Technology), Stephen J. Ramos (University of Georgia), and Paul van de Laar
(Erasmus University Rotterdam).

© 2023 by the author(s); licensee Cogitatio Press (Lisbon, Portugal). This editorial is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY).

Shipping canals have been at the heart of economic and dredging.

spatial restructuring for many centuries. They are hubs
of political claims, economic development projects, and
visions of national identity. They are key infrastructures
for sea‐land connections, at the heart of the develop‐
ment of port city territories and of the ecological
rethink‐ ing of urban deltas. Shipping canals are not
only impor‐ tant for spatial development on a
horizontal plane; they are also key to vertical
development: think of the depth of the sea and

Urban Planning, 2023, Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages 259– 259

262
 Canals have a long history. The Grand Canal in
China, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the longest
artificial canal in the world, goes back more than 2500
years. Most of the canals that are relevant today date
to the “sec‐ ond industrial revolution” of the late
nineteenth cen‐ tury, when shipping canals were part
of complex inland waterway systems, constructed by
states as a way to extend production networks into the
hinterlands to gain access to cheaper labor and to
facilitate resource extrac‐ tion. Along with railroads,
shipping channels formed the

Urban Planning, 2023, Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages 259– 259

262
networks that imprinted a new territorial “mosaic of marine and riparian habitat, threatening the life cycles
industrial urbanism” (Brenner, 2004, p. 119). They spa‐ of the deeper ecology. As Joshua Lewis (2023, p. 264)
tially redistributed value unevenly across territories writes, “balancing the needs for efficient navigation,
with new cores and peripheries. coastal restoration, and flood protection is becoming
The relationship between global systems and canal challenging for responsible agencies in the [Mississippi
infrastructure is marked by the shaping of interna‐ Delta] region.”
tional shipping canals. The Suez Canal and the Panama New fundamental transitions are needed, raising
Canal are examples. They shifted global shipping flows the question as to whether shipping canals can act
and changed the fate of many cities, such as the globally as catalysts for change in multiple, inextricably
Mediterranean ones that once again thrived as ships linked fields: water management and flood protection,
from Asia no longer took the long way around Africa to biodi‐ versity, estuarian ecosystem restoration, energy
reach Europe. Both canals proved to be major logistical transi‐ tion in the industrial port complex, regional
chains in a network of empire and colonial relationships spatial struc‐ ture, and strong “green‐blue” structures,
that continued after 1945 and were essential links in all with consid‐ eration for the history and heritage of
the new geopolitical order during the Cold War. Their culture, territory, and the built environment.
depth and width have even become a measurement for This thematic issue includes contributions that con‐
the size and draught of ships. sider contemporary regional, economic, global,
Similarly, the New Waterway in the Netherlands, logistical, and natural dimensions of international
cre‐ ated in the nineteenth century, was and is shipping canals. The editors invited participants to
inextrica‐ bly linked to this global infrastructure and consider the values that drive water engineering,
the ongo‐ ing spatial transformations. It served as a economies of scale, and the political and legal
catalyst for a fundamental transition, which led to the instruments that have allowed for the construction and
explosive growth of the port and city of Rotterdam. The maintenance of the canals—land ownership,
transi‐ tion was accompanied by a structural change in expropriation, and land use—as constituting essential
the river drainage system, and of the ecological systems elements of nature‐culture ecosystems.
in and around the estuary, including the development The contributions explore waterways in diverse
of the industrial port complex Botlek‐Europoort‐ geographies, including the Deux‐Rives project in
Maasvlakte in the mid‐twentieth century. The Maas Strasbourg (Biscaya & Elkadi, 2023) and the Grand
changed from an estuary to an industrial port canal that Maritime Port of Nantes Saint‐Nazaire and Loire Estuary
must now be dredged annually. in France (Duval & Bahers, 2023); the Manchester Ship
Rotterdam owes its world port status to the New Canal (Biscaya & Elkadi, 2023) as well as the broad inland
Waterway. Houston’s status arrived via the Houston waterway network in the UK (Terziev et al., 2023); the
Ship Channel, and Shanghai’s came from the Huangpu Lower Vistula inland waterway (Golędzinowska, 2023),
River, an artificially dug shipping channel of the Yangtze the Ports of Gdańsk and Elbląg in Poland (Marciniak,
River Delta, which, like Rotterdam, transformed 2023), and their international connection through the
Shanghai into an industrial port after WWII. The Danish Straits (Krośnicka & Wawrzyńska, 2023); the
economic globaliza‐ tion of the 1990s created the port city of Skikda on the banks of the Safsaf River in
conditions for China to become a new world and north‐ eastern Algeria (Ghennaï et al., 2023); the Tagus
maritime power. China’s Belt and Road Initiative uses Estuary in Portugal (Costa et al., 2023); and the
major works of infrastructure— including existing and Mississippi River Ship Channel (Lewis, 2023) and Gulf
new maritime and land‐based con‐ struction to extend Intracoastal Waterway (Lessoff, 2023) in the US.
its global power. Like France, England, and America in The thematic issue illustrates that shipping canal
the past, China uses shipping canals— existing and strategies remain path dependent on older regimes.
planned new ones—as part of a world infras‐ tructure. It examines how cities and ports became disconnected
China’s new power regime is based on logistical and how the ongoing transformations of river deltas
superiority in shipping and global trade. due to shipping canal dredging will demand new
Today, shipping canals continue to be excellent perspectives on port‐hinterland relationships that will
objects for the study of extended urbanization and for impact future urban planning processes. For instance,
reflections on infrastructure as socio‐cultural objects older canal net‐ works in Amsterdam and London are
and on ecosystems and geopolitical relations. In 2017, linked to long‐term processes of urban development.
the 56 countries of the United Nations Economic Post‐industrial inter‐ pretations of mobility and inner‐
Commission for Europe signed the European Agreement city connections have proved to be of value in
on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance, reconsidering functional diver‐ sity and local
hoping water transport would enhance the efficiency of development in these two cities (Alsavada & Karimi,
logistics distribution, with fewer greenhouse gas emis‐ 2023). Shanghai’s future strategies are depen‐ dent on
sions generated from truck cargo. But the “waterways its location in an area with abundant water‐ ways and
as roads” strategy reduces and instrumentalizes the possibilities of reconnecting the urban with a rural
ecology to service offsite wealth accumulation. In this hinterland. Economic and commercial ratio‐ nalities are
service, waterway dredging and maintenance leading, but often geopolitical considera‐ tions play a
perpetually disturb
Urban Planning, 2023, Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages 259– 2
fundamental role in the finalization of

Urban Planning, 2023, Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages 259– 2

decision‐making (den Hartog, 2023). The case study Cases from London and Amsterdam. Urban
of the Elbląg port addresses the geopolitical situation Planning, 8(3), 438–454.
associated with Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004, Biscaya, S., & Elkadi, H. (2023). A catalyst approach for
which led to deterioration of economic relations with smart ecological urban corridors at disused water‐
the Russian Federation. Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine ways. Urban Planning, 8(3), 406–424.
in February 2022 has urged another approach to canal Brenner, N. (2004). New state spaces: Urban
through the Vistula Spit to allow for shipping to bypass governance and the rescaling of statehood. Oxford
Russian territory (Breś & Lorens, 2023). University Press.
The articles incorporate a range of methods, includ‐ Breś, J., & Lorens, P. (2023). Shaping the new Vistula
ing the catalytic‐based approach, hydrodynamic perfor‐ Spit Channel: Political, economic, and
mance analysis, development thresholds analysis, environmental aspects. Urban Planning, 8(3), 275–
SWOT analysis, PESTEL (political, economic, 288.
sociocultural, tech‐ nological, environmental, legal Carse, A., & Lewis, J. A. (2017). Toward a political ecol‐
strategic planning tool) and the MICMAC (micro/macro) ogy of infrastructure standards: Or, how to think
scenario method, with theoretical frames ranging from about ships, waterways, sediment, and communities
urban metabolism to the UNESCO historic urban together. Environment and Planning A: Economy
landscape. Many contributions emphasize that ship and Space, 49(1), 9–28.
channels are not just navigation net‐ works but have to Costa, J. P., Andrade, M. J., & Dal Cin, F. (2023). The
be placed in the broader dynamics of water/land and (re)industrialised waterfront as a “fluid territory”:
city/territory relations. The concepts of (hydrological) The case of Lisbon and the Tagus Estuary. Urban
porosity and fluid territories serve to bring home the Plan‐ ning, 8(3), 363–375.
shifting ways in which water and land are artic‐ ulated den Hartog, H. (2023). Searching for reconnection: Envi‐
in port city territories and call for new types of ronmental challenges and course changes in spa‐
visualization (Hein et al., 2023). tial development along Shanghai’s shipping channels.
Today, more than in the past, new shipping canals Urban Planning, 8(3), 305–318.
and the necessity of dredging have become con‐ Duval, A., & Bahers, J.‐B. (2023). Flows as makers and
troversial, and negative effects on the environment breakers of port‐territory metabolic relations: The
are taken more seriously. The agendas of politicians, case of the Loire Estuary. Urban Planning, 8(3),
transnational business, maritime economists, urban 319–329.
planners, and environmentalists reveal different priori‐ Ghennaï, A., Madani, S., & Hein, C. (2023). Prospective
ties. The case studies show that innovations, planning of an inland waterway system of shipping canals in
decisions, and technological adaptations dominate the Skikda (Algeria). Urban Planning, 8(3), 376–389.
outcomes. The decision‐making process is embedded Golędzinowska, A. (2023). Potential impact of
in “hydrocracies” (Carse & Lewis, 2017) that operate waterway development on cultural landscape
as state bureaucracies in control of water management values: The case of the Lower Vistula. Urban
and their associated network of shipping firms, Planning, 8(3), 390–405.
maritime industries, port authorities, government and Hein, C., van Mil, Y., & Momirski‐Azman, L. (2023). Port
academic institutions, and NGOs effectively block city atlas. nai.
regime shifts that are needed to address these Krośnicka, K. A., & Wawrzyńska, A. (2023). How the
fundamental transi‐ tions. Ports and shipping canals depths of the Danish Straits shape Gdańsk’s port
have become too depen‐ dent on global supply chains and city spatial development. Urban Planning, 8(3),
that emphasize capacity, efficiency, and volumetric 346–362.
output. Regime shifts demand new political and social Lessoff, A. (2023). The Texas Coast: Ship channel network
contracts as is evident from anthropological studies of of the petroleum age. Urban Planning, 8(3), 330–345.
distributive power regimes. Urban planners need to Lewis, J. A. (2023). Pathologies of porosity: Looming tran‐
address the ultimate ecologi‐ cal question and develop sitions along the Mississippi river ship channel. Urban
hydrocracies‐resistant design strategies. The issues Planning, 8(3), 263–274.
discussed boil down to a fundamen‐ tal question: Who Marciniak, P. (2023). A new shipping canal through the
owns the river? Vistula Spit as a political and transportation project.
Urban Planning, 8(3), 289–304.
Conflict of Interests Terziev, M., Mosse, J., Norman, R., Pazouki, K., Lord, R.,
Tezdogan, T., Thompson, C., Konovessis, D., & Ince‐
The authors declare no conflict of interests. cik, A. (2023). Review of UK inland waterways trans‐
portation from the hydrodynamics point of view.
References Urban Planning, 8(3), 425–437.

Alsavada, M. O., & Karimi, K. (2023). The spatio‐

functional role of navigable urban canals in the city:

Urban Planning, 2023, Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages 259– 2

About the
Authors
Carola Hein is professor and head of history of architecture and urban planning at Delft University
of Technology, professor at Leiden and Erasmus Universities, and UNESCO Chair for Water, Ports,
and Historic Cities. She is director of the LDE PortCityFutures Center. She has published widely in
the field of architectural, urban, and planning history and has tied historical analysis to contempo‐
rary development. Among other major grants, she received a Guggenheim, an Alexander von Hum‐
boldt, and a Volkswagen Foundation fellowship. She serves as IPHS President and IPHS Editor for
Planning Perspectives and as Asia book review editor for Journal of Urban History. Her recent mono‐
graphs and edited and co‐edited books include: Port City Atlas (2023), Oil Spaces (2021), Urbanisa‐
tion of the Sea (2020), Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage (2020), The Routledge Planning
History Handbook (2018).

Sabine Luning is associate professor in the field of economic anthropology, infrastructure, and sus‐
tainability at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University.
Her focus has been on social aspects of large‐scale and small‐scale gold mining in West Africa, e.g., the
NORFACE‐funded Gold Matters project. As core‐member of PortCityFutures, she is involved in trans‐
disciplinary collaborations doing research on infrastructure projects which aim to connect ports to
“hinterlands” in Africa.

Han Meyer is emeritus professor of urban design at Delft University of Technology. His main focus is
on the fundaments of urbanism and on “Delta Urbanism,” which pays special attention to the search
of a new balance between urbanization processes and climate change in vulnerable deltaic
territories. More information can be found on www.deltastad.nl.

Stephen J. Ramos is an associate professor of urbanism in the College of Environment + Design at

the University of Georgia (USA). He is author of Dubai Amplified: The Engineering of a Port
Geography (Ashgate, 2010; Routledge, 2016), co‐editor of Infrastructure Sustainability and Design
(Routledge, 2012), a founding editor of New Geographies (GSD/Harvard University Press), and an
associate editor for Planning Perspectives. He serves on the international advisory board for the
Leiden‐Delft‐Erasmus Universities PortCityFutures initiative.

Paul van de Laar (1959) holds a chair in cities as a portal of globalization and urban history and is
head of the History department, Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication. His
research focuses on comparative port city history and migration history. Together with his colleague
Peter Scholten he published a book on Rotterdam’s superdiversity titled The Real Rotterdammer is
From Elsewhere: Rotterdam Migration City 1600–2022 (2022). As core‐member of PortCityFutures he
is now involved in port city transitions: “Gattopardian Transitions: Misleading Narratives in Port City
Futures.”

Urban Planning, 2023, Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages 259– 2