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Dr. Karel Van den Berghe
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

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0 International Political Economy
0 Ports
0 Spatial Planning
0 Urban Planning
0 urban heat island (UHI)

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circular economy
port city
Ports
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Urban Planning

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Journal article
Published: 08 November 2020 in Sustainability
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Large seaport hubs in Northwestern Europe are aiming to develop as circular hotspots and are striving to become first movers in the circular economy (CE) transition. In order to facilitate their transition, it is therefore relevant to unravel potential patterns of the circular transition that ports are currently undertaking. In this paper, we explore the CE patterns of five Belgian seaports. Based on recent (strategy) documents from port authorities and on in-depth interviews with local port executives, the circular initiatives of these ports are mapped, based on their spatial characteristics and transition focus. The set of initiatives per port indicates its maturity level in terms of transition towards a circular approach. For most studied seaports, an energy recovery focus based on industrial symbiosis initiatives seems to dominate the first stages in the transition process. Most initiatives are not (yet) financially sustainable, and there is a lack of information on potential new business models that ports can adopt in view of a sustainable transition. The analysis of CE patterns in this paper contributes to how ports lift themselves out of the linear lock-in, as it demonstrates that ports may walk a different path and at a diverging speed in their CE transition, but also that the Belgian ports so far have focused too little on their cargo orchestrating role in that change process. Moreover, it offers a first insight into how integrated and sustainable the ports’ CE initiatives currently are.

ACS Style

Elvira Haezendonck; Karel Van Den Berghe. Patterns of Circular Transition: What Is the Circular Economy Maturity of Belgian Ports? Sustainability 2020, 12, 9269 .

AMA Style

Elvira Haezendonck, Karel Van Den Berghe. Patterns of Circular Transition: What Is the Circular Economy Maturity of Belgian Ports? Sustainability. 2020; 12 (21):9269.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Elvira Haezendonck; Karel Van Den Berghe. 2020. "Patterns of Circular Transition: What Is the Circular Economy Maturity of Belgian Ports?" Sustainability 12, no. 21: 9269.

Journal article
Published: 15 June 2020 in Sustainability
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This paper assesses the potential of the circular economy (CE) policy ambitions of the port cities of Ghent (Belgium) and Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Both Ghent and Amsterdam are municipalities that potentially lend themselves ideally to set up a more local-oriented circular (re)production and (re)consumption system. Subsequently, both have the ambition that, in 2050, the CE will have become an achieved public value that influences all activities to be more circular in comparison with today. However, while having ambitious policies is important, we explain that a public value also requires alignment with the operational capacity used or needed to achieve this policy ambition. In this paper, we focus on the ‘negative’ CE operational capacity: landfills and incinerators. Our results show that the CE ambitions of Ghent are more realistic than Amsterdam. During the last few decades, Dutch waste management has been largely privatized. This led to a significant increase in incinerator capacity and a lowering of the incineration price. This differs from Flanders, which has a deliberate capping on the allowed incinerator capacity, keeping the price for incineration high. This increases the incentive for urban and maritime actors to climb the waste hierarchy, eventually thus making the port city (potentially) more circular as a whole.

ACS Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Felipe Bucci Ancapi; Ellen Van Bueren. When a Fire Starts to Burn. The Relation Between an (Inter)nationally Oriented Incinerator Capacity and the Port Cities’ Local Circular Ambitions. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4889 .

AMA Style

Karel Van Den Berghe, Felipe Bucci Ancapi, Ellen Van Bueren. When a Fire Starts to Burn. The Relation Between an (Inter)nationally Oriented Incinerator Capacity and the Port Cities’ Local Circular Ambitions. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (12):4889.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Felipe Bucci Ancapi; Ellen Van Bueren. 2020. "When a Fire Starts to Burn. The Relation Between an (Inter)nationally Oriented Incinerator Capacity and the Port Cities’ Local Circular Ambitions." Sustainability 12, no. 12: 4889.

Chapter
Published: 23 January 2020 in Developing Sustainability Competences Through Pedagogical Approaches
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In last three decades, planning agencies of most ports have institutionally evolved into a (semi-) independent port authority. The rationale behind this process is that port authorities are able to react more quickly to changing logistical and spatial preferences of maritime firms, hence increasing the competitiveness of ports. Although these dedicated port authorities have proven to be largely successful, new economic, social, and environmental challenges are quickly catching up on these port governance models, and particularly leads to (spatial) policy ‘conflicts’ between port and city. This chapter starts by assessing this conflict and argue that the conflict is partly a result of dominant—often also academic—spatial representations of the port city as two separate entities. To escape this divisive conception of contemporary port cities, this chapter presents a relational visualisation method that is able to analyse the economic interface between port and city. Based on our results, we reflect back on our proposition and argue that the core challenge today for researchers and policy makers is acknowledging the bias of port/city, being arguably a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hence, we turn the idea of (planning the) port/city conflicts into planning the port-city’s strengths and weaknesses.

ACS Style

Karel B. J. Van Den Berghe; Tom A. Daamen. From Planning the Port/City to Planning the Port-City: Exploring the Economic Interface in European Port Cities. Developing Sustainability Competences Through Pedagogical Approaches 2020, 89 -108.

AMA Style

Karel B. J. Van Den Berghe, Tom A. Daamen. From Planning the Port/City to Planning the Port-City: Exploring the Economic Interface in European Port Cities. Developing Sustainability Competences Through Pedagogical Approaches. 2020; ():89-108.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karel B. J. Van Den Berghe; Tom A. Daamen. 2020. "From Planning the Port/City to Planning the Port-City: Exploring the Economic Interface in European Port Cities." Developing Sustainability Competences Through Pedagogical Approaches , no. : 89-108.

Preprint content
Published: 21 December 2019
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This paper underlines the importance of space for the transition towards the circular economy (CE). Policy-makers and industry give most attention to closing material flows, largely ignoring the important spatial implications. The CE requires (re)producing and consuming as locally as possible to avoid problem displacement. This clashes with the general urban land use policy to externalize (re)manufacturing activities. This paper proposes a methodology that combines territorial and network perspectives to understand this conflict. Our results show the importance of place to foster the CE as re-emerging industry combining existing and new activities, offering insights for planning and policy.

ACS Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Marcin Dąbrowski; Aksel Ersoy; Alexander Wandl; Ellen Van Bueren. The Circular Economy: a Re-Emerging Industry? [working paper]. 2019, 1 .

AMA Style

Karel Van Den Berghe, Marcin Dąbrowski, Aksel Ersoy, Alexander Wandl, Ellen Van Bueren. The Circular Economy: a Re-Emerging Industry? [working paper]. . 2019; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Marcin Dąbrowski; Aksel Ersoy; Alexander Wandl; Ellen Van Bueren. 2019. "The Circular Economy: a Re-Emerging Industry? [working paper]." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 18 December 2019
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In last three decades, planning agencies of most ports have institutionally evolved into a (semi-) independent port authority. The rationale behind this process is that port authorities are able to react more quickly to changing logistical and spatial preferences of maritime firms, hence increasing the competitiveness of ports. Although these dedicated port authorities have proven to be largely successful, new economic, social, and environmental challenges are quickly catching up on these port governance models, and particularly leads to (spatial) policy ‘conflicts’ between port and city. This chapter starts by assessing this conflict and argue that the conflict is partly a result of dominant—often also academic—spatial representations of the port city as two separate entities. To escape this divisive conception of contemporary port cities, this chapter presents a relational visualisation method that is able to analyse the economic interface between port and city. Based on our results, we reflect back on our proposition and argue that the core challenge today for researchers and policy makers is acknowledging the bias of port/city, being arguably a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hence, we turn the idea of (planning the) port/city conflicts into planning the port-city’s strengths and weaknesses.

ACS Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Tom Daamen. From Planning the Port/City to Planning the Port-City. Exploring the Economic Interface in European Port Cities. 2019, 1 .

AMA Style

Karel Van Den Berghe, Tom Daamen. From Planning the Port/City to Planning the Port-City. Exploring the Economic Interface in European Port Cities. . 2019; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Tom Daamen. 2019. "From Planning the Port/City to Planning the Port-City. Exploring the Economic Interface in European Port Cities." , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 06 September 2019 in Sustainability
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The hypothesis of this paper is that the circular economy (CE) has the potential to (re)balance the conflict within urban spatial planning between ‘place as a location’ and the ‘organization of space’. The former dominates the latter following a shift from a Fordist towards a finance and real-estate driven regime. A consequence is that existing manufacturing areas are increasingly transformed into residential and commercial areas. However, this conflicts with the rationale of CE, namely that to end the linear economy, externalized activities, such as the (re)manufacturing of waste, should be internalized again, especially within urban regions. Emphasized by the EU, The Netherlands have the ambition to become fully circular in 2050. To test our hypothesis, we focus on two ongoing circular area developments in Amsterdam and Utrecht. By performing a discourse-institutional analysis, we detect in both case studies a change in discourse towards CE. Our results show that in contrast to our hypothesis, the concept of circularity is not emphasizing the ‘organization of space’, but even accelerating ‘space as a location’, increasingly transforming urban industrial areas into circular built residential and commercial areas. We conclude with spatial policy recommendations regarding the ambitions of a future CE.

ACS Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Martijn Vos. Circular Area Design or Circular Area Functioning? A Discourse-Institutional Analysis of Circular Area Developments in Amsterdam and Utrecht, The Netherlands. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4875 .

AMA Style

Karel Van Den Berghe, Martijn Vos. Circular Area Design or Circular Area Functioning? A Discourse-Institutional Analysis of Circular Area Developments in Amsterdam and Utrecht, The Netherlands. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (18):4875.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Martijn Vos. 2019. "Circular Area Design or Circular Area Functioning? A Discourse-Institutional Analysis of Circular Area Developments in Amsterdam and Utrecht, The Netherlands." Sustainability 11, no. 18: 4875.

Journal article
Published: 01 June 2018 in Journal of Transport Geography
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The aim of this paper is to operationalize a relational approach to the study of port-city interfaces. A relational approach allows for the analysis of how actors are connected, transact, and assign meaning and value to regional development. Much of the literature on port-city interfaces has primarily focussed on late 20th-century transformation processes at the urban waterfront. This fails to appreciate the often-continued presence of port activity within cities and falls short in understanding how the development agendas of port cities are relationally constituted. In this paper, first we argue that the port-city interface is a relational geometry through which heterogeneous flows of actors, assets, and structures are coupled. Second, we present an analytical framework capable of operationalizing such relational approach. The contemporary relational geometries in the bio-based sectors within the port cities of Amsterdam and Ghent are taken as starting points. Analysing these reveal how different coupling mechanisms result in particular development trajectories of the port city, setting the scene for future coupling mechanisms. This paper concludes with a discussion on the value of a relational approach to the study of port-city interfaces.

ACS Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Wouter Jacobs; Luuk Boelens. The relational geometry of the port-city interface: Case studies of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Ghent, Belgium. Journal of Transport Geography 2018, 70, 55 -63.

AMA Style

Karel Van Den Berghe, Wouter Jacobs, Luuk Boelens. The relational geometry of the port-city interface: Case studies of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Ghent, Belgium. Journal of Transport Geography. 2018; 70 ():55-63.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Wouter Jacobs; Luuk Boelens. 2018. "The relational geometry of the port-city interface: Case studies of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Ghent, Belgium." Journal of Transport Geography 70, no. : 55-63.

Journal article
Published: 01 September 2017 in AGORA Magazine
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ACS Style

Karel Van Den Berghe. China neemt (Volvo) over. AGORA Magazine 2017, 33, 13 -15.

AMA Style

Karel Van Den Berghe. China neemt (Volvo) over. AGORA Magazine. 2017; 33 (3):13-15.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karel Van Den Berghe. 2017. "China neemt (Volvo) over." AGORA Magazine 33, no. 3: 13-15.

Aesop section
Published: 03 July 2017 in disP - The Planning Review
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Between 10 and 13 April 2017, the 11th AESOP Young Academics Conference took place at the Technical University of Munich on the theme of “Planning and Entrepreneurship – Planning and Public Policy at the Intersection of Top-down and Bottom-up Action”. The conference’s aim was to seek to understand (i) how planners can shape conditions so that young enterprises and innovative local activism can thrive and (ii) how planners themselves can benefit by integrating entrepreneurial thinking into their routines. The bandwidth of papers resembled the breadth of planning as a discipline gathered under the AESOP umbrella. Several bridges connecting planning and entrepreneurship became apparent, among them that (i) planning can provide an ecosystem for entrepreneurial activities that support local economies, providing a liveable environment for communities, (ii) planning approaches should succeed in incorporating the demands from market-based entrepreneurialism while creating a different and inclusive form of planning, and (iii) planners should support, and become, “hackers” and social entrepreneurs.

ACS Style

Lukas Gilliard; Fabian Wenner; Christian W. Lamker; Karel Van Den Berghe; Jannes J. Willems. Potentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking for Planning. disP - The Planning Review 2017, 53, 94 -100.

AMA Style

Lukas Gilliard, Fabian Wenner, Christian W. Lamker, Karel Van Den Berghe, Jannes J. Willems. Potentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking for Planning. disP - The Planning Review. 2017; 53 (3):94-100.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lukas Gilliard; Fabian Wenner; Christian W. Lamker; Karel Van Den Berghe; Jannes J. Willems. 2017. "Potentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking for Planning." disP - The Planning Review 53, no. 3: 94-100.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2016 in Town Planning Review
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ACS Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Related Information. Definitive Space – Fuzzy Responsibility The 29th Annual International Association of European Schools of Planning conference, Prague, 13–16 July 2015. Town Planning Review 2016, 87, 93 -98.

AMA Style

Karel Van Den Berghe, Related Information. Definitive Space – Fuzzy Responsibility The 29th Annual International Association of European Schools of Planning conference, Prague, 13–16 July 2015. Town Planning Review. 2016; 87 (1):93-98.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Related Information. 2016. "Definitive Space – Fuzzy Responsibility The 29th Annual International Association of European Schools of Planning conference, Prague, 13–16 July 2015." Town Planning Review 87, no. 1: 93-98.

Horizontal frontiers
Published: 19 September 2014 in Water International
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The Flemish coastal region has two major key challenges: coastal flood risk and risk of drought. As an answer to the first challenge, a new phase of land reclamation on sea is proposed, fitting into its historical path dependence. This, however, will aggravate the second challenge, and contradict the principles of integrated water resources management (IWRM). The two challenges take place on two different governance frontiers of land and water governance, but have a growing mutual influence. It is argued that the coastal spatial governance regarding these two challenges suffers from a lock-in.

ACS Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Renaat De Sutter. The governance dilemma in the Flanders coastal region between integrated water managers and spatial planners. Water International 2014, 39, 858 -871.

AMA Style

Karel Van Den Berghe, Renaat De Sutter. The governance dilemma in the Flanders coastal region between integrated water managers and spatial planners. Water International. 2014; 39 (6):858-871.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karel Van Den Berghe; Renaat De Sutter. 2014. "The governance dilemma in the Flanders coastal region between integrated water managers and spatial planners." Water International 39, no. 6: 858-871.