Abstract
Since the 1860s, petroleum companies, through their influence on local governments, port authorities, international actors and the general public gradually became more dominant in shaping the urban form of ports and cities. Under their development and pressure, the relationships between industrial and urban areas in port cities hosting oil facilities evolved in time. The borders limiting industrial and housing territories have continuously changed with industrial places moving progressively away from urban areas. Such a changing dynamic influenced the permeability of these borders. Port cities are nodes and logistic points where various flows of commodities, wealth, and knowledge gathered before further re‐distribution. These flows affected port cities by changing their spatial organization and the availabiity of space between borders. The main question here is: How did industrial and urban borders evolve through time in port cities? Through a historical analysis, the article explores the settlements of oil facilities and the influence of oil companies over local, regional, and national governments in creating borders and how it influenced the porosity of port cities. This article, through the petroleum narrative, illustrates the impacts of past borders on the contemporary urban form through the evolution of the French port city of Dunkirk, in the North of France. As a historical study, the article analyzes the changing relationships between petroleum industrial sites and housing areas in the city of Dunkirk, using aerial pictures, archival sources, and regulations of different periods. The importance of this analysis lies in knowing that former oil sites previously located on the periphery of Dunkirk, that were forgotten by the authorities are now located within the current urban tissue. This process demonstrates the importance of historical developments to understand current challenges in the urban planning of industrial port cities.
Highlights
For more than a decade, scholars have linked ‘porous,’ a term usually used in biology, with the concept of the border to describe all sorts of dynamics between the dif‐ ferent urban elements of a city
Based on the control that oil companies developed to support the creation of their landscape of influence (Hein, 2018), this article studies the evolution of the oil industry with its various spatial and historical develop‐ ments and impacts on port cities
Dunkirk is an excellent example in this perspective because of its long oil history and the multiple permeabilities of bor‐ ders that were created around its oil sites
Summary
For more than a decade, scholars have linked ‘porous,’ a term usually used in biology, with the concept of the border to describe all sorts of dynamics between the dif‐ ferent urban elements of a city. The creation of permeable borders by different oil‐ related actors captures the dialectic relations of sep‐ aration and inclusion taking place It shows how the history of flows and actors, linked to petroleum activities, has influenced port city’s borders. The article discusses the implica‐ tions of such changing interactions between oil sites, ports, and urban areas in Dunkirk These changes are linked to recent concerns regarding security around industrial ports and the ongoing challenges related to the energy transition and the environment. Former indus‐ trial areas with their polluting activities and formerly on the periphery are, in port cities’ urban areas They have become threats for the security and health of cit‐ izens and a challenge for the public authorities manag‐ ing the spatial organization of industrial port cities. This exemplifies the importance of investigating the evolution of cities’ porosity and borders’ permeability when dis‐ cussing petroleum industrial settlements and the health of citizens in port cities
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