Water as Leverage - Wadden Sea Region

Water as Leverage for Climate Adaptation: Wadden Sea Region
Harlingen
Context
Gateway to the Wad
For more than five centuries,
Harlingen has been the biggest
harbour city in the province of
Fryslân. With its strategic position
at the coast of the Wadden Sea it
was historically an important node
between Fryslân and overseas
places such as England, France,
the Mediterranean Sea and so
on. Harlingen has become a
spot where knowledge and skills
meet, thanks to the many people
and innovations that intertwined
trough trade and transport.
Nowadays, Harlingen functions
as an important gateway between
the mainland, the intertidal sand
and mud flats and the islands
of the Wadden Sea, especially
to Terschelling and Vlieland.
Harlingen has become an
infrastructural knot: the highway
and railway, the ferry terminal
and its parkings, the canal with
its sluice, the piers, dykes and
bridges. The historic harbour city
has thus become a gateway city:
a place to go through instead of
a touristic hotspot, nevertheless
it has a rich history, attractive
city centre and strong visible
connection to the sea. Harlingen
struggles with this current image.
Next to that, Harlingen has a
precarious social context as
poverty is increasing.
Research shows that if you were
born in certain neighbourhoods
of Harlingen, your income lags
behind the national average.
Lower-income people are known
to live less healthy lives and
experience a lower living quality
for a longer period of their lives.
On the other hand, there is the
Frisian paradox: although Frisians
earn less than average, they are
happier than average. This can be
related, among other things, to the
peace and space still experienced
in Fryslân.
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Harlingen