Bridging the City

On September 4th this year the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands will celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the Erasmus Bridge, which is the city’s biggest, most iconic bridge spanning the New Maas River, connecting the historically more prosperous Northern districts and the more disadvantaged neighborhoods on the Southern bank of the river. 

To commemorate this very symbolic moment in the history of the city, the Rotterdam Municipality, the Port Authority, Erasmus University, the Institute for Housing & Urban Development Studies (IHS), and a host of civic actors are planning a full day of events, which will coincide with the World Port Days 2026.   

As part of the commemoration, I am co-organizing a two-hour hybrid (in-person and online) panel by IHS on the role and symbolism of bridges worldwide. The panel will most likely be held between 15:00-17:00 CET (Netherlands time). I hereby invite the River Cities Network partners and advisors to join the discussions by sharing their insights, reflections and personal stories about bridges in their river cities. At this stage we have still not formalized the structure, so we are open to proposals regarding the panel format and interventions. Ideas may include keynote presentations, short panel presentations, informal sharing, storytelling, and presentation of art work and multimedia work. 

RCN colleagues who participate in the event will be invited to join subsequent discussions about a multi-disciplinary research program on the impact of bridges. This program will highlight that, even though bridges have huge societal, economic and aspirational value and impacts, they are often still treated narrowly as functional, one-dimensional objects, enabling people and goods to travel from A to B.  The research seeks to uncover and highlight the diverse opportunities and value presented by bridges, as a unique means to various ends. 

Possible topics for the research program (and the panel discussion on September 4th) include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Urban bridges and transitions: How do city bridge policies relate to the topic of transition(s), in the field of biodiversity, climate, circular economy, and inclusion?
• Accentuating the social impact of bridges: Social and societal aspects are often disregarded at the expense of mobility, technology, maintenance, and asset management concerns. How can social values be better integrated in the planning and design of bridges of the future?
• “Resilience”: How do bridges contribute to environmental resilience and the resilience of cities and citizens? How can we (better) conceptualize resilience? 
• Port city development: How do bridges relate to the development and evolution of port cities?
• The politics of bridges: For all the benefits that bridges can bring, how are decisions made about where and how they are built? Whose interests are served? How are compromises about ‘city branding’ and entrepreneurialism balanced with social needs and inclusion?
• Bridges and intra-city, regional and international dynamics: How do bridges (or the lack of them) contribute to social and economic mobility, integration and (in)equality and how do they affect intra-city and inter-regional and cross-border relations and sentiments?
• Bridges as metaphors: This aspect focuses on the creation of symbolic value for a bridge:  bridges as metaphor, with a certain meaning for the city.
• Urban bridges in 2040 (and beyond): How do we envision the roles of urban bridges in 2040? What are clever approaches for the coming 10-15 years?

Those who would like to participate in person in Rotterdam on September 4th are of course cordially invited to join the panel and the audience and partake in the wider festivities around the Erasmus Bridge anniversary on September 4th and the World Port Days from September 4th-6th.

Are you interested to contribute to the panel on September 4th? Please contact Paul Rabé at p.e.rabe@iias.nl before June 22nd, specifying the following:  

• Would you like to participate online or in person? 
• How would you like to contribute: with a keynote presentation, as a panelist, by sharing personal anecdotes, or in another way (please describe)? 
• Your proposed topic and focal bridge, if relevant (mention river, city, region, country). 
• After the event, would you be interested to join discussions about a multi-disciplinary research program on the impact of bridges?