Abstract Summary
Amsterdam and Rotterdam have embarked on the redevelopment of waterfront areas in Haven-Stad and Stadshavens/Makers District respectively. Those redevelopment efforts are situated in the ‘port-city interface’, areas where port and city meet and often collide (Wiegmans & Louw, 2011; Van den Berghe et al., 2022). The port-city interface has been described as a strategic asset in port cities to (re)invent the sustainable future of both the port and the city (Daamen & Vries, 2013). Amsterdam and Rotterdam have charted distinctive courses in harnessing these areas. In Haven-Stad (Amsterdam), the primary focus has been on planning a mixed-use residential and working area with up to 70.000 houses in which the underground utility systems (e.g., water, energy), and sustainability transitions related to those systems, are taken into account (Van den Berge et al. 2022). In Stadshavens/Makers District (Rotterdam), the emphasis has been on finding common ground between city and port for economic renewal through waterfront redevelopment combined with the development of residential areas (Jansen et al., 2021; Witte et al., 2018). In both cases conventional ways of working do not match new realities and are not sufficient to address the complexity of contemporary waterfront redevelopment and sustainability transitions. Therefore, stakeholders in Amsterdam and Rotterdam are experimenting with new ways of working whereby they learn within and across organizations. Those innovative approaches and associated learning experiences, however, often do not match the existing planning regimes (e.g., Stam et al., 2023). Put differently, there often is a gap between ‘old structures’ (regimes) and ‘new approaches’. Regimes are here understood as the governance systems which steer those waterfront redevelopment processes. While the body of knowledge on learning on pilots and innovative approaches is substantial, learning in regimes and by incumbents is still understudied (Stam et al. 2023; Grin, 2020). Hence, the research question that we address in our paper is: How do actors engaged in the redevelopment of waterfront areas learn and develop and embed more integrative and collaborative approaches into existing planning regimes for sustainable (urban) redevelopment? This question encompasses both the content (i.e., integrative approaches, the ‘what’) and organisational structures (i.e., collaborative approaches, the ‘how’). Based on our work as engaged scholars and drawing on empirical evidence from both Amsterdam and Rotterdam, we identify factors through which the gap between old structures and new approaches is maintained, including dominant project-based practices and accountability mechanisms, as well as factors which can help to embed new approaches into existing planning regimes, like building up of trust and creating a safe learning space. Based on our findings we show that the divergent strategies in both cities offer rich opportunities for cross-case learning.
