Abstract
This proposed research project aims to explore the development of the economic links between Rotterdam, Rotterdam business and the Rhine mouth ports on the one hand, and the Ruhr district and Ruhr industry on the other in the course of the 1870-2000 period. The central research questions are: how and why economic interdependencies between Rotterdam and its hinterland evolved over these 130 years, in which way the main actors shaped the cross-border region, and what role networks or clusters played in this process. The project focuses on two main actors in the Lower Rhine economy, i.e. firms and governments. The guiding theory is based on ideas of agglomeration or clustering as used in economic geography. These theories have been developed further since the 1990s by economist like Michael Porter and Paul Krugman who have led a new discourse of regional competitiveness and both explored the connection between agglomeration (or clustering) and their view of (cross-border) regional competitiveness. The whole project will be divided into three sub-projects, which all have a case study approach. A final synthesis will be written by the two supervisors of the whole project.