Technical Land-Sea Spaces: Impacts of the Port Clusterization Phenomenon on Coasts, Cities and Architectures

Abstract

Land-sea interactions, extending inland and towards the marine spaces, are affected by major management and design transformations. Globalization processes, port expansion projects and extensive energy transition requests have recently led port institutions to demand more land, engaging deeply with logistics platforms and radically restructuring forms of port governance. In this competitive context, the phenomenon of Port Clusterisation, i.e. the administrative aggregation whereby two or more ports are merged to form port clusters, is heavily impacting the institutional sphere. However, not only does this phenomenon have no control over cities, but its spatial component seems to be neglected by the disciplines of space, such as urbanism and architecture. As a result, port and city institutions lack design tools to tackle urgent challenges as coastal utilization, the need for resilient port-city infrastructures and the regeneration of the port-city architectural heritage. In terms of novelty and contribution to academia, an examination of the spatial footprint of port clusters will allow research to move beyond its state-of-the-art by targeting a phenomenon that, though pivotal, is under-researched, especially within the spatial disciplines.

Spatial–Temporal Differentiation and Trend Prediction of Coupling Coordination Degree of Port Environmental Efficiency and Urban Economy: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta

“…The Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China claimed that the annual cargo throughput and container throughput of major ports in the YRD represented 37.56% and 37.39% of the national total in 2022, providing tax revenues and employment opportunities for the YRD city cluster. Furthermore, the YRD port cluster mitigates geographical barriers for goods and resources, enabling coastal industry transfers to inland cities and fostering a synergistic labor division within the cluster [5]. As the center of China's economic construction, the YRD city cluster leads in high-quality development [6].…”