Outport and Hinterland. Rotterdam Business and the Ruhr Industry, 1870-2000 (ESHCC)

Supervisor: Prof. dr. Hein A.M. Klemann and dr. Ben Wubs

This NWO-funded research project aims to explore the development of the economic links between Rotterdam, Rotterdam business and the Rhine mouth ports on the one hand, and the Ruhr district and Ruhr industry on the other in the course of the 1870-2000 period. The central research questions are: how and why economic interdependencies between Rotterdam and its hinterland evolved over these 130 years, in which way the main actors shaped the cross-border region, and what role networks or clusters played in this process. The project focuses on two main actors in the Lower Rhine economy, i.e. firms and governments. The guiding theory is based on ideas of agglomeration or clustering as used in economic geography. These theories have been developed further since the 1990s by economist like Michael Porter and Paul Krugman who have led a new discourse of regional competitiveness and both explored the connection between agglomeration (or clustering) and their view of (cross-border) regional competitiveness.

This project consists of three subprojects:

• Coal, Iron Ore and Steel. Rotterdam Business and the German ‘Montan’ Industry, 1870-1940
• Opting for Oil. Rotterdam's Oil Harbour and the Move from Coal to Petrochemical Feedstock of the Rhine Industry, 1945-1970
• The Box and Rotterdam’s New Hinterland. The Rise of Container Transport and Globalisation,1970-2000

Research on the first subproject is done by PhD-student Joep Schenk MA, research on the second subproject is done by the Ph.D.-student Marten Boon MA and research on the third subproject is done by PhD-student Klára Paardenkooper MA. Prof. dr. Hein Klemann and dr. Ben Wubs will write the syntheses.

For more information also visit the project website at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication.