Bart Wiegmans

1. Introduction In China, inland ports are gaining more and more attention as important hubs for inland cities to promote foreign trade. The concept of the inland port is being enriched and diversified to be more than merely an extension of seaports [1,2,3]. Along with the recent trends in smart technology applications, environmental protection, and integrated global trade, inland ports provide more functions and services than before [4].

1. Introduction The continuous “battle for space” between housing, businesses, public space, etc. in cities puts pressure on existing and new to develop space.

Open AccessArticle by Rogier Pennings 1,*, Bart Wiegmans 2 and Tejo Spit 1 1 Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Regional Economics and Cultural Heritage, Province of North Holland, Houtplein 33, 2012 DE Haarlem, The Netherlands * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.