160 Years of Borders Evolution in Dunkirk: Petroleum, Permeability, and Porosity

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.

The Shaping of Daqing: Borderless Interactions between Oil and Urban Areas

“…The article continues the previous research by both authors on the oil industry's impact on the development of cities and port cities. This work has demonstrated the changing porosity of borders between oil industrial sites and housing areas and the influence of the oil companies in creating such borders; it pushes forward the discussion on the role and importance of borders in industrial port cities [2]; however, the investigations focused on Dunkirk, in France, as a place of trading, storage, and transformation of oil; it linked historical industrial development and influence to the current shape of the port city. The oil industry, the borders, and the spatial analysis remain here the primary focus of the paper, but rather focus on the case of Daqing.…”

“…As opposed to an oil storage and transformation city like Dunkirk and explored in previous studies [2], Daqing is a more recent example. It deals with different aspects of oil activities.…”

“…In the hinterland, oil businessmen shaped spaces above the underground oil reserves by installing pumping stations or derricks (Figure 1). Around coastal areas, the shipment, storage, and transformation of petroleum products similarly impacted the spatial development of many port cities [2]. The distinctive spatial elements of the oil industry, represented by pipelines, refineries, and tankers, rapidly became part of the landscape [3].…”

Blue Infrastructures: An Exploration of Oceanic Networks and Urban–Industrial–Energy Interactions in the Gulf of Mexico

“…While these structures undoubtedly contribute to economic growth and enhance energy security, they also bring with them potential environmental and social costs. The continued expansion of oil and gas pipelines and related infrastructure can lead to habitat disruption, increased pollution, and a heightened risk of spills and accidents, all of which necessitate comprehensive and proactive mitigation strategies [37][38][39].…”

La composition du paysage pétrolier des villes portuaires d'Afrique du Nord, le cas de Skikda (Algérie)

“…As a result, new oil and gas facilities have emerged in port areas and created a new energy and geographic interface that has affected the urban landscape, where ports around the world have facilitated global oil flows and built extensive infrastructure for oil transportation, storage and processing, including refineries, storage tanks and pipelines. (Hauser et al, 2021) Between the 1960s and 1970s, ports faced the challenge of attractiveness and port competition, of which the concentration of the economy and the encouragement of agglomeration processes, were solutions to attract customers and suppliers (Ducruet, 2010). These solutions, led to the emergence of industrial-port development, and its maritime industrial development areas (MIDAs) (Ducruet et al, 2010).…”