The Bifurcation of Amsterdam’s Terminals and Tourists

Urgenda and Beyond

Authors

  • Simon Oxholm Roy University of Amsterdam
  • Jeff Diamanti University of Amsterdam

Abstract

This essay provides a visual and historical analysis of Amsterdam City and the terminal landscape of Westpoort in order to detail the aesthetic, discursive, and material entanglements of global logistics to the cultural imaginary of Amsterdam. By taking the recent victory of Stichting Urgenda over the interests of Dutch Petrocapital as a starting point, the essay suggests that while polity is beginning to shape environmental policy, the Port of Amsterdam continues to expand finance fueled fossil futures unabated. To explain why, archival and creative research generation is used to compare the Port of Amsterdam’s visual regime of energy storage and circulation in Westpoort to Amsterdam City’s post-industrial aesthetics.

Author Biographies

  • Simon Oxholm Roy, University of Amsterdam

    Simon Oxholm Roy is a Cultural Analysis student at the University of Amsterdam. His research explores the ecology and economy of industrial sites through ethnographic fieldwork, archival research, and photography.

  • Jeff Diamanti, University of Amsterdam

    Jeff Diamanti teaches Literary and Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam. He is co-editor of Energy Cultures (West Virginia UP) and the forthcoming Climate Realism (Routledge).

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Published

2026-05-04

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 1 (2020): Perspectives of Urban Studies

Section

Main Section

License

Creative Commons License

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

How to Cite

Oxholm Roy, S., & Diamanti, J. (2026). The Bifurcation of Amsterdam’s Terminals and Tourists: Urgenda and Beyond. FRAME, Journal of Literary Studies, 33(1), 13-30. https://platform.openjournals.nl/FRAME/article/view/27274