Abstract | Waterways can serve society in a variety of ways. However, authorities responsible for maintenance and development of waterways often have a sectoral focus. They strive for cost efficient solutions within their restricted scope; broader development of socio-economic value receives little attention. This can be seen in e.g. the Netherlands and the USA. Both countries have strong national authorities responsible for the navigation function of waterways. The societal call for broader optimization is recognized, but a systemized response to this call is lacking. Nevertheless both authorities make attempts towards increasing the socio-economic value of their capital waterway projects by deploying tools for broader optimization. Six recent cases, in which such attempts were made, are studied with the aim of identifying and classifying the tools deployed. Identification and classification is needed to evaluate where gaps and opportunities lie for more systemized responses. From these cases a total of 15 tools are identified which stimulated broad optimization. These tools are classified by identifying the transaction characteristics associated with these tools. These characteristics can relate to cost, benefits or value capturing and can be of informative, coordinative or legislative nature. The results show overlaps and voids in the domains these tools address. For practitioners the results can be helpful to navigate through the planning and implementation phase of waterway projects. More broadly the study shows that in the waterway sector, a sector in need for adaptation and renewal, the application of a variety of mixes of governance is an emerging issue. |
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