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Contested port cities: a global geography of community conflicts

Project description

Privatisation of ports and consequential conflicts

Global freight is carried over the waves. The oceans are the main transport arteries accounting for around 90 % of all traded goods. While opportunities are many, so are the challenges. The EU-funded ContestedPort project will study the emerging phenomenon of socio-spatial conflicts arising in port cities. For instance, the expansion of increasingly privatised and corporatised port infrastructure is creating a clash of interests between multi-scalar markets and globalised value chains on the one hand, and inhabitants of the port hinterland on the other. The making of global ports is transformed into an urgent societal issue, which demands a social scientific approach. The project will focus on new socio-spatial tensions in the inhabited fringes surrounding harbours.

Objective

Many contemporary ports are threatening the very communities that previously nurtured them. This research proposal tackles the emerging phenomenon of socio-spatial conflicts arising in port cities, and argues for a new critical approach that centres the experiences and responses of those contesting the making of global ports.

Over 90% of the world’s trade is carried by sea, with forecasts for further growth. The expansion of increasingly privatised and corporatised port infrastructure is creating a clash of interests between multi-scalar markets and globalised value chains on the one hand, and inhabitants of the port hinterland on the other. The making of global ports is thus transformed into an urgent societal issue, which demands a social scientific approach that acknowledges the interconnected nature of localised conflicts.

Ports are not just global trade hubs, but are indispensable cogs in the complex and sometimes “predatory” machinery of the global supply chain. Increasing demand for space and water as well as greater air, soil, sonic and water pollution are only some of the reasons for the social contestations that manifest. This holds new theoretical and practical implications for social sciences, fundamental for conceiving resilient and inclusive futures for port cities away from economic disciplinary perspectives.

By focusing on the new socio-spatial tensions in the inhabited fringes surrounding harbours, I expect to reveal logistics-driven mechanisms of rupture that impact people and places in the making of global ports. I will analyse two specific paradigmatic cases – Piraeus and Valencia – using ethnographic methods to understand the specific local contexts impacted by this globalised infrastructure. This project also entails the development of an online platform that maps and documents cases of contestation at the port, enabling the establishment of a “connective geography” that opens new channels of communication between port communities.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 175 572,48
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 175 572,48
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