The EPRC Autumn Seminar Series continued on October 7th, 2020 over Zoom with a presentation by Dr Lewis Evans, Tees Valley Combined Authority, on ‘Adaptation, Governance and Industrial Diversification: North Sea Ports and the Growth of Offshore Wind’.
Abstract
There has been little focus on the evolving roles of infrastructural asset bases in supporting and driving new growth paths. This study argues on the causal processes through which ports, and their infrastructural assets, and how they have been adapted and diversified to capture growth in the burgeoning offshore wind industry. The research provides a comparative analysis across the cases of the ‘Humber Ports’ (Port of Hull and Port of Grimsby, UK) and the ‘Port of Cuxhaven’ (Germany). It reveals the critical role played by national policy contexts as enabling environments. However, of critical importance are the ways in which different models of ownership and governance within ports influence and mediate the scale, scope and character of strategic investment opportunities. Lastly, the research also reveals variations in the roles and positions of ports within the broader external governance of territorial development.
Dr Lewis Evans is current Strategic Programme Officer at the Tees Valley Combined Authority, responsible for conducting qualitative research, policy analysis and design, and engaging with national and regional stakeholders. Dr Evans is a former Doctoral research student within the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) and the Department of Geography at Newcastle University, where he completed a PhD in 2020. In March 2016, he received an ESRC studentship (in collaboration with Humber LEP), to undertake a 3-year project exploring how localities harness and valorise port infrastructures to seize new market opportunities in Europe’s burgeoning offshore wind industry, in order to create and support new regional growth paths.
Dr Evan’s presentation can be accessed here, and the recording of the webinar can be viewed on the EPRC’s YouTube page here.
Our next webinar will take place on Wednesday November 4th, when Professor Rune Fitjar from the University of Stavanger will present on the Regional Impact of COVID-19. Future webinars this autumn will delve on topics of regional policy and development.
If you would like to participate in future seminars, watch out for updates and registrations by following @eprc_eu on Twitter.
