Port Cities: Asian and European Transformations

With the demise of European socialist economies and the marketization of Asian communist countries, a new global capitalism has reshaped the configuration of the world economy, with speed a determining factor to all transactions of information, finance, goods and services and people.

Sea-ports that were significant for a slower but no less global economy have been undergoing transformation to stay economically and culturally relevant. Some manage to reinvent themselves as tourist cities, some face decline if they do not manage to transform. This volume looks at a number of port cities in Asia and Europe that face this pressure. With contributions considering history, contemporary developments, contacts between ports, the representation of ports and the relations between port cities and their hinterlands.

This comparative study identifies many parallels between local histories and developments in the Asian and European port cities, as well as new opportunities for sharing experiences and learning from the developments and decisions in similar situations in other port cities.

Arndt Graf is Adjunct Professor of Austronesian Studies at the University of Hamburg.

Chua Beng Huat is Leader of the Cultural Studies Research Cluster, Asia Research Institute and Professor in the Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore.