A Holistic Mapping Approach to the Seine River Basin and the Port City Territory of Paris: Developing Historically Informed Awareness for Future Designs

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2026.2.08

Published

2026-10-12

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 2 (2026): (Re)Connecting River and City – The Seine in Paris and the Ile-de-France

Section

methodologies and case studies

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Copyright (c) 2026 Yvonne van Mil, Carola Hein, Lukas Höller

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

van Mil, Y., Hein, C., & Höller, L. (2026). A Holistic Mapping Approach to the Seine River Basin and the Port City Territory of Paris: Developing Historically Informed Awareness for Future Designs. Blue Papers, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2026.2.08

Keywords:

River Port Cities, GIS-mapping, river basins, river networks, planning

Abstract

Rivers and ports have historically shaped European cities, yet their wider territorial and spatial relationships remain insufficiently understood. This article proposes a multi-scalar, holistic and historically informed mapping approach to examine river port city territories as interconnected systems linking hydrology, logistics, urban form, governance and heritage. Building on the methodology developed for the Port City Atlas and refined for the River Port City Atlas, it investigates the Seine basin between Paris and Le Havre, revealing how inherited infrastructures and institutional fragmentation shape contemporary spatial challenges. By visualizing relationships across basin and metropolitan scales, the study argues that integrated mapping can support more adaptive territorial governance, sustainable logistics, climate resilience and heritage preservation in Europe’s changing river landscapes.

Author Biographies

  • Yvonne van Mil, Delft University of Technology

    Yvonne van Mil is a researcher and lecturer in the Department of Architecture at TU Delft, specializing in urban spatial history, planning and geospatial analysis. Within the LDE PortCityFutures Centre, she leads the thematic group Small Ports, Big Challenges. Alongside her academic role, she works as a freelance researcher and cartographer, collaborating with cultural and academic institutions. Her work connects historical perspectives with contemporary spatial planning challenges, with a focus on regional development. She is co-author of several book, including the Port City Atlas (2023) and Driven by Steel (2018), and contributor to the Atlas of the Dutch Urban Landscape (2018).

  • Carola Hein, Delft University of Technology

    Carola Hein is Professor History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology, Professor at Leiden and Erasmus University, and UNESCO Chair Water, Ports and Historic Cities and serves as director of the PortCityFutures Center. She has published and lectured widely on topics in contemporary and historical architectural, urban and planning history and has tied historical analysis to contemporary development. Among other major grants, she received a Guggenheim and an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship. Her recent books include: Hustle and Bustle: The Vibrant Cultures of Port Cities (2024), Port City Atlas (2023), Oil Spaces (2021), Urbanisation of the Sea (2020), Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage (2020), The Routledge Planning History Handbook (2018) and Port Cities: Dynamic Landscapes and Global Networks (2011).

  • Lukas Höller, Delft University of Technology

    Lukas Höller holds a B.Eng. in Landscape Architecture from Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences and an M.Sc. in Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences (Urbanism track) from Delft University of Technology, completed in 2020. Since September 2021, he has been pursuing a Ph.D. at TU Delft’s Department of Urbanism, where his research explores the conceptualisation and operationalisation of health and wellbeing frameworks within hydro-social territories, with a particular focus on the Rhine watershed and its network of river port cities. His work integrates spatial planning and advanced geospatial analysis. As a member of the LDE PortCityFutures Centre, he contributes to interdisciplinary research and planning initiatives related to water systems, including the Port City Atlas (2023), and is actively involved in the thematic group Small Ports, Big Challenges.

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