The role of partnerships in ‘realising’ urban sustainability in Rotterdamʹs City Ports Area, The Netherlands

Port relocation leaves a mark on the cityʹs landscape and history. In Rotterdam, a medium-sized urban delta, the harbour activities are being relocated from close to the city centre to outwards on the sea. This leaves the city with a regeneration challenge accounting for an area of 1600 ha that it is addressed through the drawing up of an ambitious vision. We investigate the partnerships that emerged and contributed by taking up the realisation of the vision. The partnerships further develop and bring to the ground the vision while remaining inspired and driven by sustainability as a guiding and practicing principle. A mapping framework is developed to examine the governance imprint of partnerships along two axes: their impact in terms of synergies and the governance role they adopt. Success factors pertinent to the case include: the sustainability vision created a momentum for action, enjoyed political attention and commitment and was received as a flagship committing different actors to its implementation. Additional factors are the quick reflexes of different agencies to take up action at the aftermath of the vision creation, the local government was open to experiment with new and old arrangements and in this way, it reinvented its role without losing its governing responsibility. In this context, partnerships take up meta-governance roles and coordinate self-organised collaborative governance processes while ensuring synergies and delivering on sustainability ambitions.