Island city formation and urban island studies

Abstract

national and global cities are disproportionately located on small islands and archipelagos. The 'spatial turn' within island and urban geography increasingly privileges abstract notions of space, yet the prevalence of big cities on small islands suggests that sensitivity to place-specific spatial factors is necessary if we are to understand both islands and the urban. Whereas previous studies of island cities have tended to underplay the effect of either the island or the urban, the present paper advocates an urban island studies that seeks to explain why islands and cities are so strongly associated. The paper argues that benefits of island spatiality encourage the establishment of seats of government and trading posts on small islands: Territoriality benefits assist political and economic elites in maintaining local authority and projecting power outwards, defence benefits help protect local powerholders from external military threat and transport benefits make strategically located small islands ideal sites for port industries. Land scarcity caused by island spatiality subsequently leads to urban densification and powerful agglomeration economies, resulting in the formation and growth of island cities. Examples from island cities and urban archipelagos such as Copenhagen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Lagos, Macau, Mexico City, Mumbai, New York City, Paris, Tokyo and Zhoushan demonstrate that urbanisation and city formation occur in place as well as in space. Orienting toward urban island studies provides insight into both island and urban processes.

A future of island studies

“…Hayward's warning is an important one, and Shima has indeed helped advance new conceptualisations of the appropriate subject matters and borders of island studies, particularly through development of the 'aquapelago' as a theoretical framework focusing on human-land-sea interaction (launched in Hayward, 2012a; with subsequent contributions from, for example, Hayward, 2012b;Fleury, 2013;Alexander, 2015;Dick, 2015;MacKinnon, 2016;Bremner, 2017). In recent years, I have ventured outside my own scholarly comfort zone of remote, cold-water islands to help establish a distinctive form of urban island studies, which has not only brought new disciplinary perspectives (architecture, urban studies, urban planning) to bear on traditional island studies questions but has also highlighted hitherto under-appreciated connections between islands and cities as well as called into question certain assumptions about the nature of islandness in general (e.g., Grydehøj, 2015;Steyn, 2015;Hayward, 2015;Casagrande, 2016;Grydehøj & Kelman, 2016;Gang, 2017).…”

Locating Zhuhai between land and sea: a relational production of Zhuhai, China, as an island city

“…Asserting the necessity of urban island studies, Grydehøj (2015a) proposes three basic benefits of island spatiality: territorial benefits, defence benefits, and transport benefits. The city of Zhuhai, which is one of the five Special Economic Zones (经济特区) dotted around China's southeastern coastal regions, was officially called into existence in 1980 (卢et al, 2001, p. 33).…”

“…The paper addresses two major relational concerns of urban island studies as set forth by Grydehøj (2015aGrydehøj ( , 2015b in order to produce islands as both focus and locus: 1) the relationship between terrestrial-marine spatiality and Zhuhai's city formation and 2) predominant patterns of land-sea configuration in urban Zhuhai. In addressing the former concern, I emphasize the sociopolitical interpretation of terrestrial-marine relationships as a historically crucial factor in the formation of this very young city, whereas in addressing the latter concern, I emphasize three predominant patterns of land-sea configuration in the city as well as various determining factors in its working processes.…”

Relational geography of a border island: local development and compensatory destruction on Lieyu, Taiwan

“…Xiamen-with its population of around 1,900,000; its land area of around 158 km²; its status as a major centre of industry, financial services, and trade; and its fixed transport links (bridge, causeway, and tunnel) with the mainland-is evidence that not all islands are marginalised and remote. Indeed, Xiamen is part of a historical tendency for small, near-shore islands to develop into major economic centres and ultimately spread out to and physically connect with the mainland, both in China and farther afield (Grydehøj, 2015;Sheng et al, 2017;Steyn, 2015). Islands may, however, face extreme developmental challenges if they are located at the periphery, far from decision-making centres; possess limited natural resources and skill foundations; have small internal markets and fluctuating income; and are subject to high transportation costs (Figueroa & Rotarou, 2016).…”