A theoretical framework of port-city conflicts was defined by putting in dialogue an urban political ecology of port-city transformation together with critical geography focusing on logistics and the politics of circulation. This implied unfolding why and how spatial and environmental inequalities, justice and social change have become emerging and ubiquitous issues in the ongoing, turbulent reconfiguration of port cities. It required exploring how port infrastructure has become increasingly privatized and corporatized, with the decisions of corporatized port authorities concerning port infrastructure that are no longer necessarily aligned with the needs of cities and their citizens. It required characterizing the material condition of the ‘glocal’ governance mismatch – a crisis of cost and benefit distribution, with environmental costs and other
impacts locally socialized, while there is a spillover of benefits for a few private stakeholders. Together with investigating the economic and geographic background of port-city conflicts, this approach demanded structuring the response of citizens; this implied conceptualizing a method to understand social mobilization in port territories, their interconnectedness, dynamics, and achievements.
This project examined several paradigmatic case studies; a more profound case analysis has been conducted for the port cities of Piraeus and Valencia, implementing ethnographic methods.
This project has also developed an online platform dedicated to conflicts between citizens and ports in port cities, displaying the global geography of urban conflicts emerging on the edge of sea and land. Expanding the engagement of this investigation beyond purely academic ground, this research has established multiple collaborations with the civic society: the content of the platform has been co-produced with active citizens and local organizations engaged in social mobilization in port cities. The platform contains 22 cases of social mobilization in port-city conflicts so far. It also works as a repository of critical material for understanding port-city conflicts, and it includes academic articles and books, community-developed documentaries, two issues of a zine I co-produced with the contributors, and a podcast with voices of citizens contesting port expansion around the world I have produced. This platform is a tool for visualizing the ubiquity and interconnectedness of conflicts, as well as a tool for triggering transnational debates among citizens of different port cities.
The outcomes of this research can be found in three academic articles (one published and two under review at the time of writing), an accessible article in Spanish press, several other accessible blogs published on PortCityFutures.nl
Results have been disseminated also through eleven international academic events, including conferences, guest lectures, festivals and a talk in a museum.
