Port City Porosity: Boundaries, Flows, and Territories

Abstract

The introduction to this thematic issue on port city porosity sets the stage for the study of port city territories as a particular type of space, located at the edge of land and sea, built, often over centuries, to facilitate the transfer of goods, people, and ideas. It argues that the concept of porosity can help conceptualize the ways in which the spaces and institutions of ports, cities, and neighboring areas intersect. It expands on the well‐established notion of the interface and more recent reflections on the port city threshold by arguing for a conceptualization of the port cityscape as a continuous network of port‐related spaces and practices. The introduction places this reflection in time, exploring the ways in which boundaries have shifted and opened up; it also provides a brief overview of the 14 contributions to the thematic issue. The contributions are organized in three groups: (1) exploring long‐term approaches to porosity in port city territories; (2) mapping and conceptualizing port city porosity on the sea side and on the land side; and (3) measuring, designing, and rethinking porosity in port city territories. The thematic issue opens questions for further research such as: Does the degree of porosity between port and city areas and the presence of maritime pockets in the city and the territory lead to greater resilience of port city activities? Does the existence of porous borders between port and city allow for easier transitions?

Centring the periphery in urban studies: Notes towards a research agenda on peripheral centralities

“…The pervasiveness of peripheral centralities ensures that they are a feature of urbanised landscapes observable at multiple scales – from the macro to the micro. Hein (2021) stresses the need for this multiscalar perspective – continental, national, regional, and local – in the role of ports as not merely infrastructural peripheral centralities, but as centralities where spatial, economic, social, and cultural processes gravitate to and are then redistributed. Multiscalarity is also a feature of the extended urbanisation Brenner (2016) has begun to chart in which cities take their place within global hinterlands of the procurement of people and commodities.…”

“…Sea, airport and logistics infrastructure have long been suburbanised in corridors of major significance to the economy of cities (Healey, 2015) and which define peripheral centralities in terms of their gateway function and throughput of people with important implications for the planning of suburban communities (Cidell, 2011). Hein’s (2021) keynote speech highlighted the differential and sometimes subservient relationship of historic city centres to enormously overdeveloped seaports as in the case of Rotterdam. To the extent these ‘gateway’ centralities are found in urban peripheries, they are defined as places of immigration and other global flows and connectivities.…”

An indicator-based approach to assess sustainability of port-cities and marine management in the Global South

“…The port facilitates import and export trade, and the city relies on industry and tourism (Couling and Hein, 2020). Port cities serve as maritime hubs, where the port acts as a junction point between land and sea transport networks (Jacobs et al, 2010;Hein, 2021). Moreover, the port city interface is an expression of the wider land-sea interrelationship, as it operates within coastal zones characterized by intense and complex interactions (Hoyle, 1989;Crossland et al, 2005).…”

“…Such practices serve as key friction points that pit economic outcomes against an emergence of greater environmental awareness and social pressures. The spectra of economic, social, cultural, and environmental challenges presented by port cities vary and often reflect their development trajectory that explain their degree of intimacy in functions over time (Couling and Hein, 2020;Lacalle et al, 2020;Hein, 2021;Moretti, 2021b) and the significant capital required to transition towards more sustainable practices.…”

“…These impacts include rapid urbanization, and the proliferation of urban settlements, resulting in unplanned urban sprawl (Owei et al, 2010) as populations migrate to cities seeking employment and improved living conditions. This can have negative environmental effects on the host city and community, such as their impacts on land, coastal, marine and atmospheric pollution (Hiranandani, 2014;Hein, 2021;Hossain et al, 2021), making port and city sustainability studies imperative.…”