Thank you to Christoph Strupp for his contributions to this section. He is a historian working at the Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg (FZH) / The Research Center for Contemporary History in Hamburg.
HISTORY
Heineken, P. (1730). Hamburg. Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, Public Domain Mark 1.0.
“The city of Hamburg has a Hanseatic history of trade, autonomy and economic power, but also of hardship and war” as presented by the official website of the city. The city’s full name, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is a reference to this history of maritime trade and political autonomy as key sources of local identity and pride.
Born in the 9th century from a castle between the Alster and Elbe rivers, in 1189 Hamburg was granted the title of ‘Free Imperial City’ in the Holy Roman Empire. Hamburg was also granted special trading rights and tax-free access to the lower Elbe River (City of Hamburg, 2024). This supported the growth of Hamburg’s trading power, economic importance and population size which continued for centuries despite challenges. It also supported the establishment of the tradition of self-organization of the Hamburg traders and citizens in managing the city’s affairs (Engels et al., 2024).
Between the 13th and 15th century, Hamburg was part of the Hanseatic League, a powerful trading alliance between coastal cities and merchants of Northern Europe which dominated commercial activity and brought Hamburg to prominence as a major transit center to Central Europe and Russia. Merchants organised in guilds (Ämter) which formed the basis of economic organisation in the city and influenced local government. The Rat (City Council) facilitated the arrival of foreign merchants seeking to establish businesses in Hamburg (Prateek, 2017; Breuilly, 1992).
By the middle of the 16th century, Hamburg surpassed Lübeck, becoming the most powerful port city in Germany and first commercial center of Northern Europe. Hamburg rose as a transhipping center, global marketplace and financial center that connected markets in England, Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Baltic, and the Mediterranean, facilitating the trade of goods like sugar, tobacco, iron, etc. Also in this period, Lutheranism became the state religion in Hamburg which led religious refugees from France and the Netherlands to seek asylum in Hamburg, later followed by Portuguese Jews (City of Hamburg, 2024). This migrant population provided benefits to Hamburg’s international trade connections, economic prosperity and population growth but faced xenophobia and antisemitism (Intoxicating Spaces, 2024).
“Water is early modern Hamburg’s defining geographical feature” according to the research initiative ‘Intoxicating spaces.’ The merchants benefited from direct water access to the port at the intersection between the Alster and the Elbe river, and traveled from there to the North Sea via the Elbe or downstream to Germany and Easter Europe. The creation of new and improved waterways (for instance in the 17th century) was important for the international port city. At this time the Rat (City Council) also invested in new urban spaces for leisure and culture including parks, theaters, etc. Hamburg presented itself as a ‘merchant republic’ governed by its citizens (‘burghers’) although in practice, some 15-20% accessed this ‘burgher status’ (male, Lutheran, property owner) and the city’s elite of merchants and lawyers had more political power (Intoxicating Spaces, 2024).
However, the growing demand for industrial labor from industrialization processes created a large number of working poors in Hamburg, living in overcrowded, low quality housing. In addition, Hamburg was particularly vulnerable to plagues and epidemics, as a port city where diseases could spread as a result of maritime exchange (Schubert et al., 2022). Epidemics and diseases had a severe toll on the city resulting in the fact that “in most years mortality (deaths) in the city outstrips fertility (births), and only around half of children born survive to the age of ten” (Intoxicating Spaces, 2024).
In 1815, Hamburg was liberated from Napoleon’s French army and reestablished as a ‘free city’ within the German confederation. Hamburg also adopted a democratic constitution in 1860 that established freedom of press, assembly and association as well as the separation between church and state. Hamburg became part of the German Empire in 1871 and was able to preserve much of its political autonomy, up to today (City of Hamburg, 2024). During this period, Hamburg merchants took part in the transatlantic trade, facilitating the movement of slave-produced goods into continental Europe (von Mallinckrodt et al., 2021). According to the ‘Intoxicating Spaces’ research project, “Although it has no colonies of its own… Its mercantile success thus provides the machinery for and perpetuates imperial oppression and exploitation.”
Throughout the 19th century and despite several catastrophes for the city (Great Fire, Cholera epidemic), Hamburg kept growing, absorbing surrounding cities and countryside. By the end of the century, it had become the second largest port in Europe, Germany’s “gateway to the world” - from where over five million Europeans emigrated, especially towards America - and quadrupled its population, reaching some 800,000 people (Schubert et al., 2022; City of Hamburg, 2024).
The Two World Wars left a huge mark on Hamburg. Under Nazi Germany, the Jewish community of Hamburg - which was the largest in Germany before the war - was dislocated, from around 20,000 ‘religious Jews’ in the 1920s to less than 1,000 by the end of the war (Jörg Berkemann 2018). Thousands were murdered. In 1943, the city was heavily bombed by the British and American airforces, killing more than 40,000 civilians and massively destroying infrastructure (50% of homes, 40% of industrial areas, 80% of the port area)’ (City of Hamburg, 2024). Reconstruction was rapid, but in 1962, a massive flood overwhelmed dykes and submerged almost one-sixth of the city, killing more than 300 people (Engels & al., 2024). In the following decades, Hamburg improved its flood preparedness, and grew again to reach some 1.8 million inhabitants, benefiting from immigration as well as increased trade with central Europe after the reunification of Germany in the 1990s (Thomsen & McIntosh, 2024).
Today Hamburg continues to be a major trading center (although its port has fallen behind Rotterdam and Antwerp) but has also diversified its economy. It is also an attractive place for tourists and residents who have a high overall quality of life, although large inequalities remain (The Academy of Urbanism, 2013).
The Port of Hamburg
Rabich, D. (2016, June 11). Landungsbrücken and ship “Queen Mary 2”, Hamburg, Germany. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The Port is inseparable from Hamburg’s history and identity until today. It remains an primary feature of the city and its economy even though Hamburg has diversified its economy and the port has lost its dominance in European and global trade.
The port of Hamburg is the third biggest in Europe after Rotterdam and Antwerp. It receives cargo shipments, especially from China as the first origin and destination country, and connects maritime transport with land-based transport (rail and road) to the German hinterland, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Baltic region (OECD, 2024). In 2023, the port processed 7.7 million TEU (‘Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit’, the general unit used to measure ports’ capacity to process cargo/containers), 70% of which was container throughput (Port of Hamburg, 2024). The Port of Hamburg is also the largest rail port in Europe.
The official creation of the port goes back to 1189, when Hamburg ships were granted customs-free navigation access along the Lower Elbe River towards the North Sea. The port grew in the following decades (and the city with it), especially from the period of the Hanseatic League (13th - 15th century). From the 15th century, with the exploration and colonisation of America, Hamburg increasingly forged relations with foreign ports and became connected with international trade, surpassing other European leading ports like Lübeck.
The port was developed extensively during the 19th century, and became an open tidal port (port whose water levels are influenced by tides), with quays and sheds along both banks of the River Elbe. The rail system for ship-to-rail transfer was also developed in the late 19th century. After Hamburg joined the German Customs Union in 1881, the Freeport area was built to store imported goods duty-free (the free trade zone was dissolved in 2013), and included the Speicherstadt, a large warehouse which became a key landmark of the city.
By the early 20th century, Hamburg was the leading port in continental Europe and the third largest port in the world after London and New York. During World War Two, 80% of the port facilities were destroyed which required massive reconstruction efforts. In the late 1960s, another turning point was the ‘containerization’ and globalization of trade via large, standardized containers loaded on ever larger ships. As a result the port of Hamburg has built several container terminals and heavily dredged the Elbe river to allow for the passage of large ships, resulting in massive ecological destruction. Since 2020, ships with an added ship width of up to 98 metres can access the port. In recent years the Terminal has also invested in electrification to reduce its CO2 emissions and present itself as a European leader in sustainable maritime transport (Port of Hamburg, 2024).
Another key recent development is the megaproject HafenCity, which is redeveloping 157 hectares of former port and industrial land in the center of Hamburg into new waterfront urban areas with artificial mounds (‘warfts’) and floodable quays that aim to address flooding risk without cutting off the area from the water with dikes and barriers (Port of Hamburg, 2024). With this, Hamburg aims to set new standards of integrated urban development for waterfront cities in Europe, that bring together maritime identity and sustainability with a high-density mix of workplace and residential uses, education, culture and leisure, tourism and retailing (HafenCity 2024). The project aims to create 7,000 dwellings and over 45,000 jobs (Port of Hamburg, 2024).
Despite these moves, there is a general decline of the port in terms of competitiveness and economic profitability. In Europe, the port has fallen behind Rotterdam and Antwerp. The port’s highest volume of container handling was reached in 2014 and has not been surpassed since. Several factors can help explain this, like “the decrease of empty containers handling, a lower number of transshipments in cargo ships, and the rise of container activity via railway” as well as a “failure to modernise and expand transport infrastructure” (TransGlory, 2018; Kędzierski, 2024).
SOCIETY & ECONOMY
Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and seventh largest in the European Union, with some 1.9 million inhabitants in the city and 5.4 million in the metropolitan area (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2023). As a city-state, Hamburg is administered by a State Parliament (Bürgerschaft) and a Senate, which acts as government (Senat) and is headed by the ‘First Mayor’ (Erster Bürgermeister). Overall, residents enjoy a high quality of life, thanks to a dynamic economy, rich cultural life and access to green and blue spaces (parks, lakes and rivers) among others. Sports are also popular, and Hamburg hosts Germany’s first athletic and rowing clubs (Thomsen & McIntosh, 2024). Hamburg’s population is expected to grow beyond 2 million by 2030, which increases the need for housing (City of Hamburg, 2024b).
Fronl. (2023, March 18). Blick auf die Außenalster an der Schönen Aussicht in Hamburg. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
With a GDP of over 150 billion euros in 2023 (the highest of the German states), Hamburg is a wealthy yet unequal city, home to billionaires but also low-income inhabitants (City of Hamburg, 2024b; OECD, 2024). These tend to be concentrated in areas like Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, which are more vulnerable to water hazards (Engels & al, 2024). According to Frieden et al. (2023), Hamburg ranks among the top 5 percent of the most unequal municipalities in Germany. The industrialisation of port activities has contributed to the large working class population living in Hamburg and its large migrant population, consisting of more than 30% of residents (Hamburg Chamber of Commerce 2024). Immigration contributes to Hamburg’s vibrant and diverse culture, and plays an important role for Hamburg’s economy and population growth, due to low fertility rates. However, the migrant population has been deeply impacted by racial discrimination and far-right violence, including assaults and homicides, especially in the 1970s and 1980s (HAMREA, 2024).
The port, maritime industries and logistics remain dominant in the city’s economy although the port’s recent decline raises questions for its future role and the need to develop other sectors. One illustration of this is Hamburg’s efforts to present itself as a ‘Smart City’ with an advanced digitalisation, economic efficiency and climate resilience (Bär et al., 2020). The city-state government has invested heavily in entrepreneurship, ICT, education and research, and in the health and environmental sectors. Hamburg is also flourishing in the sectors of aviation, biotech and media and creative industries (City of Hamburg, 2024c). Hamburg’s role as a press centre for newspapers dates to the 17th century. The city has a wide range of publishing firms and newspapers like the Hamburger Abendblatt and the Hamburger Morgenpost (Thomsen & McIntosh, 2024).
However, according to Bärt et al (2020), Hamburg’s focus on innovation and ‘smart solutions’ excludes parts of the population and does not sufficiently address urgent ecological issues. Polluting activities continue to be at the heart of the city-state’s economic model. Aircraft and petroleum products were among Hamburg’s most important export and import goods in 2023 (City of Hamburg, 2024b). Manufacturing, which is a large contributor to Hamburg’s economy, is also particularly energy and emission-intensive. This is especially due to oil refining, the production of iron and steel and the production of aluminium. Energy transformation (oil, coal, natural gas) and transport are the most emission-intensive sectors in Hamburg (OECD, 2024).
CULTURE & HERITAGE
Hamburg has a rich and diverse culture. Hamburg’s long tradition of self-rule influences the local culture and sense of pride among inhabitants (Thomsen & McIntosh, 2024). Maritime identity and the port continue to be major cultural influences in Hamburg, not least due to its rivers and canals, and because the port continues to be located in the heart of the city, unlike in many other port cities. Water is ever present in the daily practices of many inhabitants who walk on bridges above waterways and enjoy Lake Aster and its green surroundings for water sports and social activities. The Alster swans are protected by law since 1664 and have been an emblem of the city for 400 years.
The city has some 2500 bridges, which surpasses the amount of bridges in Amsterdam, London and Venice together (Guinness World Records, 2013). The Speicherstadt (a UNESCO Heritage Site since 2015) and Hamburg fish market are landmarks reminiscent of the city’s water heritage. A newer architectural landmark is the Elbphilharmonie, a concert hall built atop an old warehouse by the Elbe river, whose glass structure reflects both water and sky (City of Hamburg, 2024d). The presence of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea’s headquarters in Hamburg is yet another sign of the city’s connections with water. New urban development projects in the city, such as HafenCity, seek to revive the maritime heritage of the city, mixing it with housing, workplaces and climate-resilient public spaces like floodable quays (AIVP, 2024).
Rabich, B. (2016, June 11). Wasserschloss in the Speicherstadt, Hamburg, Germany (2016). CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Hamburg also has a vibrant gastronomic, artistic, musical and nightlife culture, alongside its mix of traditional Hanseatic and modern architecture. The city hosts many festivals and major museums like the Kunsthalle and orchestras like the Philharmonische Staatsorchester. As the birthplace of Mendelssohn and Brahms, Hamburg has maintained a strong musical tradition alive with its music clubs (which helped launch the Beatles’ career in the early 1960s) and its renowned hip-hop music scene (City of Hamburg, 2024e). The annual Reeperbahn Festival, held in Hamburg, is the largest club festival in Europe (World Cities Culture Forum, 2024).
While the city hosts more than 300 cultural institutions, there are disparities of access. According to a recent survey, visitors are on average 51 years old, well-educated (64%) and have a medium- (54%) or high income (31%). 36% of non-visitors to cultural institutions cited price as an explanation (City of Hamburg, 2024f). The city-state aims to promote cultural diversity by providing funds for intercultural arts and culture projects and festivals (City of Hamburg, 2024g). The annual Altonale festival, which brings together film, theater, music, art, literature, dance and street art and promotes cultural diversity, is a very popular event in Northern Germany which attracts over half a million visitors each year.
Hackercatxxy. (2016). Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Hamburg has a temperate and maritime climate and is located in a flood-prone area, as shown by the catastrophic flood of 1962 which submerged almost one-sixth of the city and killed over 300 people (Mauch, 2012). The risks of flooding (from groundwater, from the river and from the coast) and storm surges are exacerbated by climate change. Sea-level rise, more intense storm surges, groundwater rise and more regular, heavy rainfall increase the risk of flooding and of compound events. For example, the storm series in February 2022 which led to extreme wind gusts, heavy rainfall, high water levels and high river discharges around Hamburg (Engels & al., 2024).
Because of this context, 67% of Hamburg residents consider climate change to be a major or very major threat to the city and 62% report having been personally affected by a natural disaster in Hamburg, based on data from 2023 (Ratter & Scheunpflug 2023. In: Engels & al., 2024). In accordance with this, there has been a long history of climate change mitigation and adaptation in Hamburg, with a growing emphasis on adaptation in recent years. Indeed, Hamburg adopted the first Climate Protection Act in Germany in 1997, was appointed as the second European Environmental Capital in 2011, and adopted a dedicated Climate Adaptation Plan in 2023 (Engels & al., 2024).
Urbanisation has also made Hamburg more vulnerable to floods due to the increased sealing of urban surfaces, but the city-state is investing in nature-based solutions like green spaces and roofs as well as the restoration of wetlands. Balancing the needs for more housing and for green infrastructure remains a challenge for Hamburg to adapt to climate change, according to Engel et al. (2024).
An important development is the megaproject HafenCity, which is redeveloping 157 hectares of former port and industrial land in the center of Hamburg into new waterfront urban areas with artificial mounds (‘warfts’) and floodable quays that aim to address flooding risk without cutting off the area from the water with dikes and barriers (AIVP, 2024). With this, Hamburg aims to set new standards of integrated urban development for waterfront cities in Europe, that bring together maritime identity and sustainability with a high-density mix of workplace and residential uses, education, culture and leisure, tourism and retailing (HafenCity, 2024).
Dressler, H. (2023, November 26). The Stubnitz in the Hafencity Hamburg. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Overall, the growing effects of climate change are testing the limits of Hamburg’s current flood protection infrastructure, composed of dikes, storm surge barriers, adaptive urban planning and increasingly nature based solutions. Growing climatic risks suggest the need to continue investing in adaptation measures while balancing the need for more housing in the city (Engels & al., 2024).
BIODIVERSITY & WATER ECOSYSTEMS
Hamburg is located in a transitional estuarine coastal zone, connected to the North Sea via the river Elbe. Hamburg and its port activities cannot be separated from the wider ecosystem of the region, and most notably the Wadden Sea, the largest sedimentary tidal flat system in the world (Rittelmann, 2021). The intertidal zone of more than 11,000 square kilometres is located in the southeastern part of the North Sea and spans across Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Roletschek, R. (2013, September 29). Island Neuwerk near Hamburg in the German Wadden Sea. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The Wadden Sea, which figures on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2009, has a unique dynamic environment of transitional zones between land, the sea and freshwater environment, affected by tides and winds. As a result, the area provides many different types of habitat (tidal channels, sandy shoals, sea-grass meadows, mussel beds, sandbars, mudflats, salt marshes, estuaries, beaches and dunes) for diverse plants and animal species, like seals, fish but also small arthropod species like insects and spiders. The salt marshes host around 2,300 species of flora and fauna, and the marine and brackish areas a further 2,700 species, and 30 species of breeding birds. The area is also one of the most important in the world for migratory birds, with an average of 10 to 12 million birds each year (UNESCO, 2024). At the west of the mouth of the Elbe, the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park hosts a variety of plants, birds, fish, marine mammals, as well as human residents and tourists.
Dirk Schmidt (Celsius auf Wikivoyage). (2009, May). Germany / North Sea / Wadden Sea between with Islands Amrum and Föhr: some seals. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
But despite its protected areas, the Wadden Sea has been heavily altered by human influences over the last 1,000 years. 144 species became extinct or severely depleted due mainly to habitat loss and overexploitation, while the livelihoods of human coastal societies were transformed from fishing, agriculture and hunting to service-based economies. Many forms of natural and cultural heritage were lost (Lotze et al., 2005). These shifts were particularly visible around Hamburg. Indeed, interventions to expand the port and city and build dykes to protect against floods accelerated from the 18th century onwards, deeply altering the estuarine environment. The expansion of the port has transformed wetlands and marshes into port areas, and the river Elbe has been heavily dredged to allow for the passage of larger and larger ships. Coastal protection measures have created a border between land and water spaces.
The dredging of the Elbe river has accelerated the sedimentation process, creating a growing need for land and marine disposal sites where toxic sediments are dumped. In Moorfleet, for example, a hill of dredged sediments is set to reach 56 m above sea-level according to Hein & Hilder (2023). The continued port expansion and river dredging has sparked resistance and conflicts of interest. For instance, fisherfolks and environmental NGOs have protested the loss of marine species like fish and shrimp, due to the impact of hydrological interventions on marine habitats. Hydrological interventions have also made the estuary more unpredictable (increased tidal range and tidal pumping) and have accelerated erosion, as shown by the disappearance of the former island Medemsand during the 2000s (Hein & Hilder 2023). In the 2010s, scientific studies warned that further dredging the Elbe river risked causing ‘irreparable damage’ to the river ecosystem, and a legal complaint was lodged by environmental NGOs to prevent the dredging project. However, it took place nonetheless and a navigation channel of some 17 meters below sea level was established in 2021 (Spiegel International, 2013; Hein & Hilder, 2023).
