The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case of the North Sea — one of th... more The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case of the North Sea — one of the world’s most industrialised seas, in which the Netherlands plays a central role. The space of the North Sea is almost fully planned and has been loaded with the task of increased economic production from new and traditional maritime sectors. At the same time, it has been emptied of cultural significance. Through diverse projects from academia, art, literature, and practice, from analysis to design, the book explores synergies for designing this new spatial realm. Port city expert Carola Hein, professor of the history of architecture & urban planning at Delft University of Technology, and Nancy Couling, associate professor at the Bergen School of Architecture and researcher of the urbanised sea, combine forces with interdisciplinary experts to guide the reader through this complex and fascinating topic. open access download of full book available here: https://books.bk.tudelft.nl/press/catalog/book/isbn.9789462085930
Spaces of ocean-borne energy logistics and their landside extensions around the North Sea have de... more Spaces of ocean-borne energy logistics and their landside extensions around the North Sea have developed into specialised, impermeable structures of energy extraction, transportation, transformation and storage. Despite the irregular dispersal of artefacts, the combination of both fixed and mobile infrastructure weaving through the North Sea has tied single sites together into a viscous territory of logistics – both solid and liquid and therefore hard to decipher. We argue that it is precisely the traits of invisibility, seclusion, operationalization and intersecting cycles of movement in time, that identify the North Sea as a site of unfolding processes of extended urbanisation and the most expansive layer of the global petroleumscape.
The North Sea is undergoing severe ecological degradation. Can this condition be used as leverage... more The North Sea is undergoing severe ecological degradation. Can this condition be used as leverage for a change in societal attitudes, which are subsequently reflected in planning practices? Currently, both avenues are progressing with few effective feedback loops. This question is examined through imaginative proposals made by students at Bergen School of architecture, who address the North Sea as a holistic seascape composed of human-made and natural phenomena and aim to provide strategies for ecological recovery while reinstating the commons.
Although the ocean is investigated by many scientific fields, research about ocean space is scarc... more Although the ocean is investigated by many scientific fields, research about ocean space is scarce. But energy production, extraction of resources, infrastructural and logistical development is increasing incrementally, resulting in a quantum shift in scale and intensity of spatial demands. Almost no part of the global ocean remains unaffected by human impact. The ocean is therefore a site of spatial and environmental convergence, a type of âhinterlandâ to urbanized territories. While these developments are ephemeral in relative urban terms, often remote and hard to decipher, they also carve out vast territories and leave lasting physical legacies. These phenomena have largely escaped spatial articulation. History is rich in examples of radical forms of urbanization which engaged the ocean as a network agent, without claiming territorial rights. Intensified activities, however have led to the territorialization of the ocean through the establishment of fixed exclusive economic z...
Water territories challenge inherited, land-based methods of capturing their history. They are a ... more Water territories challenge inherited, land-based methods of capturing their history. They are a vital commons, where social, technical, political and cultural interests intertwine, potentially also causing conflict. Attention is currently focused both on the ecological importance of the water cycle for human well-being and ecosystem services, as well as on the unpredictable aspects of water through the effects of climate change. This paper argues that such interconnected challenges require new tools and methods of conceptualising and visualising waterscapes. Narrative cartography developed with citizen’s input, reveals itself to be a highly inclusive methodology which can capture neglected knowledge about the past as well as propose visions for the future. This method is discussed in two different geographic contexts through the academic projects Streamscapes in Germany and Mittelmeerland in the Mediterranean.
Energy logistics is the management and implementation of energy flows and their physical artefact... more Energy logistics is the management and implementation of energy flows and their physical artefacts. This sector has perpetuated and profited from a spatial and conceptual void produced by national and corporate strategies in order to optimise logistical flows and to avoid larger societal debate. Offshore developments, in particular, take place far from the public eye and imagination though they form a core layer of the global petroleumscape. This article explores the history and development of the industrialised void of the North Sea and how energy logistics, strongly determined by the oil and gas industries, shields its presence while at the same time shaping and structuring the built environment at sea and across dedicated land-sea thresholds. Throughout this process, it persistently avoids the emergence of architectural form. We propose that the concept of blankness, first formulated by Roberto Mangabiera Unger and further discussed by Jeffrey Kipnis, is a useful framework for in...
The North Sea is undergoing severe ecological degradation. Can this condition be used as leverage... more The North Sea is undergoing severe ecological degradation. Can this condition be used as leverage for a change in societal attitudes, which are subsequently reflected in planning practices? Currently, both avenues are progressing with few effective feedback loops. This question is examined through imaginative proposals made by students at Bergen School of architecture, who address the North Sea as a holistic seascape composed of human-made and natural phenomena and aim to provide strategies for ecological recovery while reinstating the commons.
In the North Sea, one of the world’s most industrialized maritime basins, the petroleum industry ... more In the North Sea, one of the world’s most industrialized maritime basins, the petroleum industry has been largely responsible for the creation of new types of offshore spaces, making it a powerful vehicle of the urbanization of the sea. This chapter discusses the particular type of extended urbanization that emerged postwar in the North Sea in conjunction with the construction of its offshore petroleumscape. This urbanization is organized around unprecedented, tailor-made extended territorial frameworks (grids), characterized by huge installations such as “Ekofisk City,” constructed to high technical requirements with vast amounts of concrete and steel and a large-scale rotating workforce (giants); it incorporates intangible cultural dimensions in the construction of identities around these new geographic places (gods). Once established, the offshore petroleumscape leaves a formidable territorial legacy: it has set a precedent in transforming the North Sea into an energy seascape, w...
The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case of the North Sea — one of th... more The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case of the North Sea — one of the world’s most industrialised seas, in which the Netherlands plays a central role. The space of the North Sea is almost fully planned and has been loaded with the task of increased economic production from new and traditional maritime sectors. At the same time, it has been emptied of cultural signi ficance. Through diverse projects from academia, art, literature, and practice, from analysis to design, the book explores synergies for designing this new spatial realm. Port city expert Carola Hein, professor of the history of architecture & urban planning at Delft University of Technology, and Nancy Couling, associate professor at the Bergen School of Architecture and researcher of the urbanised sea, combine forces with interdisciplinary experts to guide the reader through this complex and fascinating topic.
Rather than painting a picture of the urban planet with generalised brushstrokes, planetary urban... more Rather than painting a picture of the urban planet with generalised brushstrokes, planetary urbanization calls for critical, localised studies that can offer new understandings of urban forces on the ground for which our inherited epistemological frameworks are at a loss to accommodate. In particular, Brenner and Schmid argue that due to methodological cityism, emerging formations and constellations outside recognised agglomerations have long been overlooked in urban studies. This chapter argues that urban formats unfolding in ocean space are an exemplary case of extended urbanisation, one of the three ‘moments’ of planetary urbanisation articulated by Brenner and Schmid. Offshore, the contradictions of the undecipherable yet planetary scale of urbanisation processes come sharply into focus. Channels of infrastructure delivering energy, waste, goods and materials to and from central areas of settlement have been forged through ocean space, thereby also constantly reconfiguring this ...
Urban systems operate at a multitude of scales, densities and levels of specialization over vast ... more Urban systems operate at a multitude of scales, densities and levels of specialization over vast areas of the planet, as has been pointed out by Lefebvre in The Production of Space and The Urban Revolution and more recently by Neil Brenner and Christian Schmid in their essay Planetary Urbanization. Pressure on ocean space for energy production, extraction of resources, infrastructural and logistical development is steadily increasing, making the ocean a site of spatial and environmental convergence, a type of urban “hinterland”.While ephemeral in relative dimensions over time , critical nodes are beginning to emerge where the vast scale of the ocean is confined by physical limits.The first part of this paper examines ocean space in terms of scarcity within this context. Scarcity has been discussed as a relational term, relative to need or demand (Samuel and Robert, 2010) and in fact as a condition produced by ever-changing and newly created “needs”(Luks, 2010). In spite of market dy...
Energy logistics is the management and implementation of energy flows and their physical artefact... more Energy logistics is the management and implementation of energy flows and their physical artefacts. This sector has perpetuated and profited from a spatial and conceptual void produced by national and corporate strategies in order to optimise logistical flows and to avoid larger societal debate. Offshore developments, in particular, take place far from the public eye and imagination though they form a core layer of the global petroleumscape. This article explores the history and development of the industrialised void of the North Sea and how energy logistics, strongly determined by the oil and gas industries, shields its presence while at the same time shaping and structuring the built environment at sea and across dedicated land-sea thresholds. Throughout this process, it persistently avoids the emergence of architectural form. We propose that the concept of blankness, first formulated by Roberto Mangabiera Unger and further discussed by Jeffrey Kipnis, is a useful framework for interrogating the architecture of energy logistics, its apparent invisibility, and global impact. For both Unger and Kipnis, blankness signified a potential liberation from established norms, opening the way for new forms of democratic life and architectural expression. Such an interpretation of blankness could enable design professionals and the general public to reclaim architectural expression for the spaces left without meaning by logistics. In conclusion we argue for urgent architectural intervention beyond pure logistics and towards an integrated vision for the common space of the sea.
Couling N. 2017. The Urbanization of the Ocean: Extractive Geometries in the Barents Sea, in Ilke... more Couling N. 2017. The Urbanization of the Ocean: Extractive Geometries in the Barents Sea, in Ilke & Andreas Ruby (eds.) Infrastructure Space. Berlin: Ruby Press
A quantum shift in the scale and intensity of ocean use in all sectors has now resulted in real and virtual “constructions” which match the ocean’s vast dimensions, including maximum turning circles, deepening draughts and the marking out of exclusive economic zones. This thickens the loosely-woven urban mesh into hard, technological materiality, creates electronic boundaries and exacerbates the spatial convergence of urban and ecological systems. Urbanization processes have fully penetrated and enveloped ocean space. Through the case-study of extractive geometries in the Barents Sea, this paper discusses the scalar mechanisms and spatial processes unfolding in the region. The urbanization of the ocean takes place within discreet, deep, remote, contingent and constitutionally ambiguous spaces that have shielded its progression and obscured it from critical view. Offshore sites lack real social interaction and the vast infrastructural systems within which they are firmly embedded are largely invisible. Inherent ocean properties interact with urbanization forces to form new and unfamiliar spatial conditions. The urbanization of the ocean physically appears as a series of diffuse, porous, yet large-scale and far-reaching apparitions, which serve and complete urban circuits. Processes of extended urbanization are manifest at ocean sites characterized by dispersed intensity. The urbanization of the ocean is both a strategic project to extend urban systems through ocean space and a byproduct of urban society at a global scale. However if attuned to planetary biological scale it could take a radical new turn.
The sea- a material, spatial, ecological and recreational resource-is the site of one of this cen... more The sea- a material, spatial, ecological and recreational resource-is the site of one of this century's greatest planning challenges. Adopting the concept of seascapes as a parallel to landscapes, this paper traces the emergence of large-scale planned seascapes for both productive and protective purposes. While a relatively recent phenomenon, planning ocean space builds on centuries of seascape construction – a process merging natural, cultural, political and geological phenomena. Three types of seascapes are proposed following J. B. Jackson's landscapes one, two and three; the productive seascape, the essentially visual seascape and the all-encompassing, amorphous hybrid of architectural and natural systems. As a vital producer, the sea has become a site of spatial and environmental convergence-a condition within which economic value is threatened by overall ecological degradation. Marine Spatial Planning has therefore been initiated as a way of regulating interactions and conflicting spatial claims. The resulting plans are static and highly rational, divided into sectorial areas of economic priority. However a close-up study of the Nysted offshore windpark –a large-scale planned seascape– reveals surprising interdependencies; energy production infrastructure and sea-life must share both time and space. Can a deeper understanding of seascape types and properties steer their very planning towards shared, integrated, and open-ended spheres of activity?
As a product of accumulated oceanographic and urbanizing forces, the Baltic Sea is a unique space... more As a product of accumulated oceanographic and urbanizing forces, the Baltic Sea is a unique space; and is therefore a fundamental element of Baltic “stratigraphy.” The sea is a shared materiality, an infrastructural site, and a persistent realm of connectivity. Cultural, political, and topographical littoral diversities have engaged in a continued dialogue sustained by the sea itself, and therefore have further shaped it by way of a reciprocal process. This text argues that the space of the Baltic Sea has become fully urbanized through the intensification and acceleration of interactions. Nine principles of urbanization in the Baltic Sea are proposed which elaborate on this condition
The most influential territorial initiative of the twentieth century didn’t establish a comprehen... more The most influential territorial initiative of the twentieth century didn’t establish a comprehensive legal basis for space on land, but rather at sea. When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) came into force in 1994, after being developed from 1958 to 1982, it established a new type of territory of vast proportions. Moreover, this initiative became the first fundamental legal territorial concept to operate on an international scale.
Legislation to govern the sea was developed to resolve disputes and spatial claims that had begun to mount after World War II. Despite the intensification of ocean-bound activities and a vested interest among nations in maintaining undersea resource-zones, notions of ocean space as a fluid territorial zone had traditionally functioned to prioritize movement, maintain flows, and resist territorial claims. The Convention on the Law of the Sea, however, applied instruments of fixed territorialization to a realm characterized by both intensifying processes of urbanization and periodic, contingent water-masses in continual flux. The dimensions of the ocean are global; for this reason, both the urban and ecological systems at work here operate on a planetary scale.
This essay discusses legislative attempts to manage the urbanization of the ocean. UNCLOS has catalyzed other planning initiatives that seek to manage the Exclusive Economic Zones that resulted from its passage—in this sense, UNCLOS is a law that potentially creates design. However, within this framework, the scale, material composition, and movement of the ocean—the “client” in this design process—calls for an alternative conception of design, a conception in which the ocean itself can be regarded as an active agent, and the global public as the stewards of this “commons.”
The essay will begin with an overview, from a legislative perspective, of the diverse and contradictory conceptualizations of ocean space that have prevailed throughout history. These models have traditionally differed from models of territorial domination based on the exercise of power, the “political technology” seen most often on land. Ocean space, historically speaking, was seen not exclusively as something defensible or mappable, but also as a common resource, too vast and powerful to completely control. After this historical treatment, I will introduce the principles of UNCLOS and demonstrate the impact of this legislation using the example of the planning of the Exclusive Economic Zone in the German North Sea. In the third and final section, I will discuss the potential of design to adjust and refine these rudimentary parameters of legislation, while addressing the challenges posed by the ocean’s urbanization—a paradigm shift toward the ocean as project.
The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case of the North Sea — one of th... more The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case of the North Sea — one of the world’s most industrialised seas, in which the Netherlands plays a central role. The space of the North Sea is almost fully planned and has been loaded with the task of increased economic production from new and traditional maritime sectors. At the same time, it has been emptied of cultural significance. Through diverse projects from academia, art, literature, and practice, from analysis to design, the book explores synergies for designing this new spatial realm. Port city expert Carola Hein, professor of the history of architecture & urban planning at Delft University of Technology, and Nancy Couling, associate professor at the Bergen School of Architecture and researcher of the urbanised sea, combine forces with interdisciplinary experts to guide the reader through this complex and fascinating topic. open access download of full book available here: https://books.bk.tudelft.nl/press/catalog/book/isbn.9789462085930
Spaces of ocean-borne energy logistics and their landside extensions around the North Sea have de... more Spaces of ocean-borne energy logistics and their landside extensions around the North Sea have developed into specialised, impermeable structures of energy extraction, transportation, transformation and storage. Despite the irregular dispersal of artefacts, the combination of both fixed and mobile infrastructure weaving through the North Sea has tied single sites together into a viscous territory of logistics – both solid and liquid and therefore hard to decipher. We argue that it is precisely the traits of invisibility, seclusion, operationalization and intersecting cycles of movement in time, that identify the North Sea as a site of unfolding processes of extended urbanisation and the most expansive layer of the global petroleumscape.
The North Sea is undergoing severe ecological degradation. Can this condition be used as leverage... more The North Sea is undergoing severe ecological degradation. Can this condition be used as leverage for a change in societal attitudes, which are subsequently reflected in planning practices? Currently, both avenues are progressing with few effective feedback loops. This question is examined through imaginative proposals made by students at Bergen School of architecture, who address the North Sea as a holistic seascape composed of human-made and natural phenomena and aim to provide strategies for ecological recovery while reinstating the commons.
Although the ocean is investigated by many scientific fields, research about ocean space is scarc... more Although the ocean is investigated by many scientific fields, research about ocean space is scarce. But energy production, extraction of resources, infrastructural and logistical development is increasing incrementally, resulting in a quantum shift in scale and intensity of spatial demands. Almost no part of the global ocean remains unaffected by human impact. The ocean is therefore a site of spatial and environmental convergence, a type of âhinterlandâ to urbanized territories. While these developments are ephemeral in relative urban terms, often remote and hard to decipher, they also carve out vast territories and leave lasting physical legacies. These phenomena have largely escaped spatial articulation. History is rich in examples of radical forms of urbanization which engaged the ocean as a network agent, without claiming territorial rights. Intensified activities, however have led to the territorialization of the ocean through the establishment of fixed exclusive economic z...
Water territories challenge inherited, land-based methods of capturing their history. They are a ... more Water territories challenge inherited, land-based methods of capturing their history. They are a vital commons, where social, technical, political and cultural interests intertwine, potentially also causing conflict. Attention is currently focused both on the ecological importance of the water cycle for human well-being and ecosystem services, as well as on the unpredictable aspects of water through the effects of climate change. This paper argues that such interconnected challenges require new tools and methods of conceptualising and visualising waterscapes. Narrative cartography developed with citizen’s input, reveals itself to be a highly inclusive methodology which can capture neglected knowledge about the past as well as propose visions for the future. This method is discussed in two different geographic contexts through the academic projects Streamscapes in Germany and Mittelmeerland in the Mediterranean.
Energy logistics is the management and implementation of energy flows and their physical artefact... more Energy logistics is the management and implementation of energy flows and their physical artefacts. This sector has perpetuated and profited from a spatial and conceptual void produced by national and corporate strategies in order to optimise logistical flows and to avoid larger societal debate. Offshore developments, in particular, take place far from the public eye and imagination though they form a core layer of the global petroleumscape. This article explores the history and development of the industrialised void of the North Sea and how energy logistics, strongly determined by the oil and gas industries, shields its presence while at the same time shaping and structuring the built environment at sea and across dedicated land-sea thresholds. Throughout this process, it persistently avoids the emergence of architectural form. We propose that the concept of blankness, first formulated by Roberto Mangabiera Unger and further discussed by Jeffrey Kipnis, is a useful framework for in...
The North Sea is undergoing severe ecological degradation. Can this condition be used as leverage... more The North Sea is undergoing severe ecological degradation. Can this condition be used as leverage for a change in societal attitudes, which are subsequently reflected in planning practices? Currently, both avenues are progressing with few effective feedback loops. This question is examined through imaginative proposals made by students at Bergen School of architecture, who address the North Sea as a holistic seascape composed of human-made and natural phenomena and aim to provide strategies for ecological recovery while reinstating the commons.
In the North Sea, one of the world’s most industrialized maritime basins, the petroleum industry ... more In the North Sea, one of the world’s most industrialized maritime basins, the petroleum industry has been largely responsible for the creation of new types of offshore spaces, making it a powerful vehicle of the urbanization of the sea. This chapter discusses the particular type of extended urbanization that emerged postwar in the North Sea in conjunction with the construction of its offshore petroleumscape. This urbanization is organized around unprecedented, tailor-made extended territorial frameworks (grids), characterized by huge installations such as “Ekofisk City,” constructed to high technical requirements with vast amounts of concrete and steel and a large-scale rotating workforce (giants); it incorporates intangible cultural dimensions in the construction of identities around these new geographic places (gods). Once established, the offshore petroleumscape leaves a formidable territorial legacy: it has set a precedent in transforming the North Sea into an energy seascape, w...
The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case of the North Sea — one of th... more The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case of the North Sea — one of the world’s most industrialised seas, in which the Netherlands plays a central role. The space of the North Sea is almost fully planned and has been loaded with the task of increased economic production from new and traditional maritime sectors. At the same time, it has been emptied of cultural signi ficance. Through diverse projects from academia, art, literature, and practice, from analysis to design, the book explores synergies for designing this new spatial realm. Port city expert Carola Hein, professor of the history of architecture & urban planning at Delft University of Technology, and Nancy Couling, associate professor at the Bergen School of Architecture and researcher of the urbanised sea, combine forces with interdisciplinary experts to guide the reader through this complex and fascinating topic.
Rather than painting a picture of the urban planet with generalised brushstrokes, planetary urban... more Rather than painting a picture of the urban planet with generalised brushstrokes, planetary urbanization calls for critical, localised studies that can offer new understandings of urban forces on the ground for which our inherited epistemological frameworks are at a loss to accommodate. In particular, Brenner and Schmid argue that due to methodological cityism, emerging formations and constellations outside recognised agglomerations have long been overlooked in urban studies. This chapter argues that urban formats unfolding in ocean space are an exemplary case of extended urbanisation, one of the three ‘moments’ of planetary urbanisation articulated by Brenner and Schmid. Offshore, the contradictions of the undecipherable yet planetary scale of urbanisation processes come sharply into focus. Channels of infrastructure delivering energy, waste, goods and materials to and from central areas of settlement have been forged through ocean space, thereby also constantly reconfiguring this ...
Urban systems operate at a multitude of scales, densities and levels of specialization over vast ... more Urban systems operate at a multitude of scales, densities and levels of specialization over vast areas of the planet, as has been pointed out by Lefebvre in The Production of Space and The Urban Revolution and more recently by Neil Brenner and Christian Schmid in their essay Planetary Urbanization. Pressure on ocean space for energy production, extraction of resources, infrastructural and logistical development is steadily increasing, making the ocean a site of spatial and environmental convergence, a type of urban “hinterland”.While ephemeral in relative dimensions over time , critical nodes are beginning to emerge where the vast scale of the ocean is confined by physical limits.The first part of this paper examines ocean space in terms of scarcity within this context. Scarcity has been discussed as a relational term, relative to need or demand (Samuel and Robert, 2010) and in fact as a condition produced by ever-changing and newly created “needs”(Luks, 2010). In spite of market dy...
Energy logistics is the management and implementation of energy flows and their physical artefact... more Energy logistics is the management and implementation of energy flows and their physical artefacts. This sector has perpetuated and profited from a spatial and conceptual void produced by national and corporate strategies in order to optimise logistical flows and to avoid larger societal debate. Offshore developments, in particular, take place far from the public eye and imagination though they form a core layer of the global petroleumscape. This article explores the history and development of the industrialised void of the North Sea and how energy logistics, strongly determined by the oil and gas industries, shields its presence while at the same time shaping and structuring the built environment at sea and across dedicated land-sea thresholds. Throughout this process, it persistently avoids the emergence of architectural form. We propose that the concept of blankness, first formulated by Roberto Mangabiera Unger and further discussed by Jeffrey Kipnis, is a useful framework for interrogating the architecture of energy logistics, its apparent invisibility, and global impact. For both Unger and Kipnis, blankness signified a potential liberation from established norms, opening the way for new forms of democratic life and architectural expression. Such an interpretation of blankness could enable design professionals and the general public to reclaim architectural expression for the spaces left without meaning by logistics. In conclusion we argue for urgent architectural intervention beyond pure logistics and towards an integrated vision for the common space of the sea.
Couling N. 2017. The Urbanization of the Ocean: Extractive Geometries in the Barents Sea, in Ilke... more Couling N. 2017. The Urbanization of the Ocean: Extractive Geometries in the Barents Sea, in Ilke & Andreas Ruby (eds.) Infrastructure Space. Berlin: Ruby Press
A quantum shift in the scale and intensity of ocean use in all sectors has now resulted in real and virtual “constructions” which match the ocean’s vast dimensions, including maximum turning circles, deepening draughts and the marking out of exclusive economic zones. This thickens the loosely-woven urban mesh into hard, technological materiality, creates electronic boundaries and exacerbates the spatial convergence of urban and ecological systems. Urbanization processes have fully penetrated and enveloped ocean space. Through the case-study of extractive geometries in the Barents Sea, this paper discusses the scalar mechanisms and spatial processes unfolding in the region. The urbanization of the ocean takes place within discreet, deep, remote, contingent and constitutionally ambiguous spaces that have shielded its progression and obscured it from critical view. Offshore sites lack real social interaction and the vast infrastructural systems within which they are firmly embedded are largely invisible. Inherent ocean properties interact with urbanization forces to form new and unfamiliar spatial conditions. The urbanization of the ocean physically appears as a series of diffuse, porous, yet large-scale and far-reaching apparitions, which serve and complete urban circuits. Processes of extended urbanization are manifest at ocean sites characterized by dispersed intensity. The urbanization of the ocean is both a strategic project to extend urban systems through ocean space and a byproduct of urban society at a global scale. However if attuned to planetary biological scale it could take a radical new turn.
The sea- a material, spatial, ecological and recreational resource-is the site of one of this cen... more The sea- a material, spatial, ecological and recreational resource-is the site of one of this century's greatest planning challenges. Adopting the concept of seascapes as a parallel to landscapes, this paper traces the emergence of large-scale planned seascapes for both productive and protective purposes. While a relatively recent phenomenon, planning ocean space builds on centuries of seascape construction – a process merging natural, cultural, political and geological phenomena. Three types of seascapes are proposed following J. B. Jackson's landscapes one, two and three; the productive seascape, the essentially visual seascape and the all-encompassing, amorphous hybrid of architectural and natural systems. As a vital producer, the sea has become a site of spatial and environmental convergence-a condition within which economic value is threatened by overall ecological degradation. Marine Spatial Planning has therefore been initiated as a way of regulating interactions and conflicting spatial claims. The resulting plans are static and highly rational, divided into sectorial areas of economic priority. However a close-up study of the Nysted offshore windpark –a large-scale planned seascape– reveals surprising interdependencies; energy production infrastructure and sea-life must share both time and space. Can a deeper understanding of seascape types and properties steer their very planning towards shared, integrated, and open-ended spheres of activity?
As a product of accumulated oceanographic and urbanizing forces, the Baltic Sea is a unique space... more As a product of accumulated oceanographic and urbanizing forces, the Baltic Sea is a unique space; and is therefore a fundamental element of Baltic “stratigraphy.” The sea is a shared materiality, an infrastructural site, and a persistent realm of connectivity. Cultural, political, and topographical littoral diversities have engaged in a continued dialogue sustained by the sea itself, and therefore have further shaped it by way of a reciprocal process. This text argues that the space of the Baltic Sea has become fully urbanized through the intensification and acceleration of interactions. Nine principles of urbanization in the Baltic Sea are proposed which elaborate on this condition
The most influential territorial initiative of the twentieth century didn’t establish a comprehen... more The most influential territorial initiative of the twentieth century didn’t establish a comprehensive legal basis for space on land, but rather at sea. When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) came into force in 1994, after being developed from 1958 to 1982, it established a new type of territory of vast proportions. Moreover, this initiative became the first fundamental legal territorial concept to operate on an international scale.
Legislation to govern the sea was developed to resolve disputes and spatial claims that had begun to mount after World War II. Despite the intensification of ocean-bound activities and a vested interest among nations in maintaining undersea resource-zones, notions of ocean space as a fluid territorial zone had traditionally functioned to prioritize movement, maintain flows, and resist territorial claims. The Convention on the Law of the Sea, however, applied instruments of fixed territorialization to a realm characterized by both intensifying processes of urbanization and periodic, contingent water-masses in continual flux. The dimensions of the ocean are global; for this reason, both the urban and ecological systems at work here operate on a planetary scale.
This essay discusses legislative attempts to manage the urbanization of the ocean. UNCLOS has catalyzed other planning initiatives that seek to manage the Exclusive Economic Zones that resulted from its passage—in this sense, UNCLOS is a law that potentially creates design. However, within this framework, the scale, material composition, and movement of the ocean—the “client” in this design process—calls for an alternative conception of design, a conception in which the ocean itself can be regarded as an active agent, and the global public as the stewards of this “commons.”
The essay will begin with an overview, from a legislative perspective, of the diverse and contradictory conceptualizations of ocean space that have prevailed throughout history. These models have traditionally differed from models of territorial domination based on the exercise of power, the “political technology” seen most often on land. Ocean space, historically speaking, was seen not exclusively as something defensible or mappable, but also as a common resource, too vast and powerful to completely control. After this historical treatment, I will introduce the principles of UNCLOS and demonstrate the impact of this legislation using the example of the planning of the Exclusive Economic Zone in the German North Sea. In the third and final section, I will discuss the potential of design to adjust and refine these rudimentary parameters of legislation, while addressing the challenges posed by the ocean’s urbanization—a paradigm shift toward the ocean as project.
European Journal of Creative Practices in Cities & Landscapes, 2019
Water territories challenge inherited, land-based methods of capturing their history. They are a ... more Water territories challenge inherited, land-based methods of capturing their history. They are a vital commons, where social, technical, political and cultural interests intertwine, potentially also causing conflict. Attention is currently focused both on the ecological importance of the water cycle for human well-being and ecosystem services, as well as on the unpredictable aspects of water through the effects of climate change. This paper argues that such interconnected challenges require new tools and methods of conceptualising and visual-ising waterscapes. Narrative cartography developed with citizen's input, reveals itself to be a highly inclusive methodology which can capture neglected knowledge about the past as well as propose visions for the future. This method is discussed in two different geographic contexts through the academic projects Streamscapes in Germany and Mittelmeerland in the Mediterranean.
The Urbanisation of the Sea: from Concepts and Analysis to Design, 2020
The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case
of the North Sea — one of th... more The book tells the story of the sea-land continuum based on the case of the North Sea — one of the world’s most industrialised seas, in which the Netherlands plays a central role. The space of the North Sea is almost fully planned and has been loaded with the task of increased economic production from new and traditional maritime sectors. At the same time, it has been emptied of cultural significance. Through diverse projects from academia, art, literature, and practice, from analysis to design, the book explores synergies for designing this new spatial realm. Port city expert Carola Hein, professor of the history of architecture & urban planning at Delft University of Technology, and Nancy Couling, associate professor at the Bergen School of Architecture and researcher of the urbanised sea, combine forces with interdisciplinary experts to guide the reader through this complex and fascinating topic.
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A quantum shift in the scale and intensity of ocean use in all sectors has now resulted in real and virtual “constructions” which match the ocean’s vast dimensions, including maximum turning circles, deepening draughts and the marking out of exclusive economic zones. This thickens the loosely-woven urban mesh into hard, technological materiality, creates electronic boundaries and exacerbates the spatial convergence of urban and ecological systems. Urbanization processes have fully penetrated and enveloped ocean space. Through the case-study of extractive geometries in the Barents Sea, this paper discusses the scalar mechanisms and spatial processes unfolding in the region.
The urbanization of the ocean takes place within discreet, deep, remote, contingent and constitutionally ambiguous spaces that have shielded its progression and obscured it from critical view. Offshore sites lack real social interaction and the vast infrastructural systems within which they are firmly embedded are largely invisible. Inherent ocean properties interact with urbanization forces to form new and unfamiliar spatial conditions.
The urbanization of the ocean physically appears as a series of diffuse, porous, yet large-scale and far-reaching apparitions, which serve and complete urban circuits. Processes of extended urbanization are manifest at ocean sites characterized by dispersed intensity.
The urbanization of the ocean is both a strategic project to extend urban systems through ocean space and a byproduct of urban society at a global scale. However if attuned to planetary biological scale it could take a radical new turn.
Legislation to govern the sea was developed to resolve disputes and spatial claims that had begun to mount after World War II. Despite the intensification of ocean-bound activities and a vested interest among nations in maintaining undersea resource-zones, notions of ocean space as a fluid territorial zone had traditionally functioned to prioritize movement, maintain flows, and resist territorial claims. The Convention on the Law of the Sea, however, applied instruments of fixed territorialization to a realm characterized by both intensifying processes of urbanization and periodic, contingent water-masses in continual flux. The dimensions of the ocean are global; for this reason, both the urban and ecological systems at work here operate on a planetary scale.
This essay discusses legislative attempts to manage the urbanization of the ocean. UNCLOS has catalyzed other planning initiatives that seek to manage the Exclusive Economic Zones that resulted from its passage—in this sense, UNCLOS is a law that potentially creates design. However, within this framework, the scale, material composition, and movement of the ocean—the “client” in this design process—calls for an alternative conception of design, a conception in which the ocean itself can be regarded as an active agent, and the global public as the stewards of this “commons.”
The essay will begin with an overview, from a legislative perspective, of the diverse and contradictory conceptualizations of ocean space that have prevailed throughout history. These models have traditionally differed from models of territorial domination based on the exercise of power, the “political technology” seen most often on land. Ocean space, historically speaking, was seen not exclusively as something defensible or mappable, but also as a common resource, too vast and powerful to completely control. After this historical treatment, I will introduce the principles of UNCLOS and demonstrate the impact of this legislation using the example of the planning of the Exclusive Economic Zone in the German North Sea. In the third and final section, I will discuss the potential of design to adjust and refine these rudimentary parameters of legislation, while addressing the challenges posed by the ocean’s urbanization—a paradigm shift toward the ocean as project.
A quantum shift in the scale and intensity of ocean use in all sectors has now resulted in real and virtual “constructions” which match the ocean’s vast dimensions, including maximum turning circles, deepening draughts and the marking out of exclusive economic zones. This thickens the loosely-woven urban mesh into hard, technological materiality, creates electronic boundaries and exacerbates the spatial convergence of urban and ecological systems. Urbanization processes have fully penetrated and enveloped ocean space. Through the case-study of extractive geometries in the Barents Sea, this paper discusses the scalar mechanisms and spatial processes unfolding in the region.
The urbanization of the ocean takes place within discreet, deep, remote, contingent and constitutionally ambiguous spaces that have shielded its progression and obscured it from critical view. Offshore sites lack real social interaction and the vast infrastructural systems within which they are firmly embedded are largely invisible. Inherent ocean properties interact with urbanization forces to form new and unfamiliar spatial conditions.
The urbanization of the ocean physically appears as a series of diffuse, porous, yet large-scale and far-reaching apparitions, which serve and complete urban circuits. Processes of extended urbanization are manifest at ocean sites characterized by dispersed intensity.
The urbanization of the ocean is both a strategic project to extend urban systems through ocean space and a byproduct of urban society at a global scale. However if attuned to planetary biological scale it could take a radical new turn.
Legislation to govern the sea was developed to resolve disputes and spatial claims that had begun to mount after World War II. Despite the intensification of ocean-bound activities and a vested interest among nations in maintaining undersea resource-zones, notions of ocean space as a fluid territorial zone had traditionally functioned to prioritize movement, maintain flows, and resist territorial claims. The Convention on the Law of the Sea, however, applied instruments of fixed territorialization to a realm characterized by both intensifying processes of urbanization and periodic, contingent water-masses in continual flux. The dimensions of the ocean are global; for this reason, both the urban and ecological systems at work here operate on a planetary scale.
This essay discusses legislative attempts to manage the urbanization of the ocean. UNCLOS has catalyzed other planning initiatives that seek to manage the Exclusive Economic Zones that resulted from its passage—in this sense, UNCLOS is a law that potentially creates design. However, within this framework, the scale, material composition, and movement of the ocean—the “client” in this design process—calls for an alternative conception of design, a conception in which the ocean itself can be regarded as an active agent, and the global public as the stewards of this “commons.”
The essay will begin with an overview, from a legislative perspective, of the diverse and contradictory conceptualizations of ocean space that have prevailed throughout history. These models have traditionally differed from models of territorial domination based on the exercise of power, the “political technology” seen most often on land. Ocean space, historically speaking, was seen not exclusively as something defensible or mappable, but also as a common resource, too vast and powerful to completely control. After this historical treatment, I will introduce the principles of UNCLOS and demonstrate the impact of this legislation using the example of the planning of the Exclusive Economic Zone in the German North Sea. In the third and final section, I will discuss the potential of design to adjust and refine these rudimentary parameters of legislation, while addressing the challenges posed by the ocean’s urbanization—a paradigm shift toward the ocean as project.
http://www.losquaderno.professionaldreamers.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/losquaderno51.pdf
of the North Sea — one of the world’s most industrialised seas, in which
the Netherlands plays a central role. The space of the North Sea is almost
fully planned and has been loaded with the task of increased economic
production from new and traditional maritime sectors. At the same time,
it has been emptied of cultural significance.
Through diverse projects from academia, art, literature, and practice,
from analysis to design, the book explores synergies for designing this
new spatial realm. Port city expert Carola Hein, professor of the history
of architecture & urban planning at Delft University of Technology, and
Nancy Couling, associate professor at the Bergen School of Architecture
and researcher of the urbanised sea, combine forces with interdisciplinary
experts to guide the reader through this complex and fascinating topic.
open access download of full book available here:
https://books.bk.tudelft.nl/press/catalog/book/isbn.9789462085930