The flight of Icarus? Incheon's transformation from port gateway to global city
[SHS:GEO] Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography
This chapter examines the relationship between freight and urban development in the case of the South Korean city of Incheon. Functionally linked to the capital Seoul as main gateway of the Gyeongin corridor, home to a major seaport (second after Busan) and new international airport, the local and national government have been especially aggressive in promoting all modes of freight transportation and logistics activity, as well as free economic zones, notably based on the "Pentaport" concept. The case of Incheon thus provides a site for exploring how (and with what consequences) cities in export-oriented Asian nations have gone about planning for heightened and elaborated flows of goods. Furthermore, it explores how logistic activities co-exist with the ambitions of Incheon - and South Korea as a whole - of becoming a Northeast Asia's knowledge and business hub. In light of the multiplication of other projects nationally and in Asia, and of the competition from Chinese manufacturers and transportation providers, this case provides some insights into what trends may emerge in the future.
Frontline soldiers of globalisation: port-city evolution and regional competition
This paper is an empirical attempt to measure the relative concentration of port-city functions in the context of globalisation. It reviews a number of urban and port issues regarding their complementary and contradictory aspects about the evolution of port cities. The main purpose is to verify how port function is more or less important to local economies, compared to other functions, through a temporal and global approach. Based on a matrix of port-city centrality and intermediacy, the main indicators available for international comparison are urban population and container throughput. An analysis of 653 places between 1970 and 2005 period is provided, using the relative concentration index proposed by Vallega. The appropriate geographical scale to measure the relative evolution of port cities at a global level is discussed. Results tend to question previous models which consider functional and spatial separation between the city and its port as an ineluctable process. The port-city evolution appears to be gradual rather than linear or chaotic, and in many cases largely influenced by regional factors and local strategies
The port city in multidisciplinary analysis
The inherent complexity of the port city has drawn attention from a vast number of scholars belonging to a variety of scientific fields. While a full and exhaustive review would reach beyond the scope of this chapter, it proposes evaluating the level of cohesion of port-city research through a classification of main study areas and their outcomes. Multiple definitions of the port city are both a cause and a consequence of the fragmentation of port-city research. There is a necessity refining the status of port-city research within mainstream approaches on either ports or cities.
The port city in the XXIst century: New challenges in the relationship between port and city
On connaît rarement le poids de la ville littorale dans l'activité du port ; encore moins celui du port dans l'activité de la ville littorale, en termes de flux de marchandises. Le trafic portuaire, malgré de nombreuses imprécisions quant à sa valeur réelle et aux origines et destinations précises des flux, reste une donnée riche en enseignements. Comparer le volume et la structure du trafic portuaire à la population des villes permet de mesurer leur spécialisation portuaire et de mettre en valeur certaines spécificités régionales et trajectoires remarquables en Europe et dans le monde.
Maghreb port cities in transition: the case of Tangier
The port of Tangier is about to become one of the most dynamic ports across the Euro-Mediterranean area. The valuing of exceptional locational qualities as maritime crossroads between international shipping routes (Gibraltar Straits) occurs in a context of exacerbated rivalries among Mediterranean transhipment hubs (e.g. Algeciras, Valencia, Cagliari, Gioia Tauro, Taranto, and Marsaxlokk). Locally and regionally, it is made possible through the physical separation between the port city of Tangier and the new multifunctional site of Tangier Med, located 30 km eastwards. This paper recalls briefly the main historical steps of Tangier's development since its origins. Then, it reviews its recent evolution on three different geographic levels: the one of maritime flows and international port competition, the one of regional integration of Tangier in the Moroccan and Maghreb transport systems, and the local issues of port-city redevelopment both within the traditional city and at the new site of Tangier Med. Some concluding remarks aim at linking together these three levels of analysis in terms of the possible futures of this ambitious project.
Commodity variety and seaport performance
Seaports are key locations within value chains and production networks. Port policies of national and local governments seek higher rents through strategies of specialisation or diversification. Elaborating on longstanding research about urban and regional development, this paper proposes an empirical investigation of the interplay between traffic variety and port performance. The analysis of traffic data per commodity for 330 European ports highlights the influence of multiple factors such as location, function, and local context, together with the specificity of some commodities regarding port evolution. The demonstrated importance of territorial factors provides a good complement to existing literature mostly focused on global networks and economic players
This paper is a short synthesis about the port city of Incheon from its early phases of development in the nineteenth century to nowadays role as transport hub and free economic zone.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
European port-city interface and its Asian application
This research focuses on the spatial logics of port-city relationships in Europe, to be compared to the Asian and, in particular, the Korean case. The main goal is to propose some reflections from which Korean players may put their strategies in perspective. Five steps compose the body of the report. First of all, the first chapter recalls the European and Asian stakes of port-city relationships, allowing to formulate some hypothesis on the two areas' specific structures, to be verified later in following chapters. The second chapter proposes a review of academic literature in order to clarify the “port city” concept, given the theoretical and practical lacks on this issue in spite of numerous previous works. The third and fourth chapters are the core of the research, assuming respectively a quantitative analysis (presentation of the data and methodology, factor analysis, cartography of the results and typology), and a qualitative analysis (a smaller sample of eight port cities is chosen and compared through graphical models). The fifth chapter proposes to apply the same methods on an Asian sample, and finishes on centring around the Korean case. Finally, the sixth chapter gives some conclusions to the research, together with some policy implications for the Korean case, through the idea of necessary complementarity and equilibrium between port and urban spaces and functions, so as to cope with the growing pressures from international transport
Measuring intermodalism at European port cities: An employment-based study
This paper proposes a continental approach to the combination of transport functions within European port cities. It reviews a number of concepts and theories, regarding with transport chain integration and urban centrality in the case of ports. While many studies on intermodalism face a lack of quantifiable data, this research proposes an original methodology based on employment. The data is collected for 76 port cities, 9,000 companies and more than one million employees in all transport modes. By bringing together employment figures and basic urban and port indicators, results of the factor analysis show the different functional and spatial trends. There is a recurrent opposition between freight and passenger-oriented specializations among port cities, which are also influenced by the European core-periphery spatial pattern. In addition, a benchmarking of port cities in terms of their intermodal potentials is provided as a means for policy implications
World Review of Intermodal Transport Research
The integration of ports within logistics and supply chains has become a major issue for both public and private players worldwide. Notably, the role of intermediaries in establishing efficient integration within transport chains in which ports are embedded is not well-known. International comparison is limited by the drastic lack of quantifiable information about inter-firm linkages and intermodal operations. Based on a European business database, this paper analyses the modal portfolio and employment distribution of about 8,000 transport firms, intermodal operators, and freight forwarders among 80 European ports. It allows measuring the degree to which different industries such as port activities, logistics, warehousing, road, sea, river, rail, and air transport, integrate within firms and within ports. Main results of the quantitative analysis show that transport integration and port performance have significant interdependence, but this is influenced by hinterland size, accessibility, and regional legacies differentiating Northern from Southern ports
European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research
Approche comparée du développement des villes-ports à l'échelle mondiale : problèmes conceptuels et méthodologiques
La comparaison internationale des villes-ports se justifie par la similitude croissante des phénomènes spatiaux et économiques auxquelles celles-ci sont confrontées. Malgré la diversité des configurations et des mécanismes que connaissent les villes-ports dans leur individualité et au sein de leur espace national, ce travail tente de mesurer à l'échelle mondiale, à partir des données disponibles pour un échantillon de 330 nœuds, la nature des structures actuelles et des évolutions en cours guidant les rapports complexes entre l'urbain, le portuaire et le maritime. L'analyse en composantes principales souligne certains aspects fondamentaux de l'opposition ville/port, ainsi que leur dimension fortement régionale
Dynamiques scalaires et temporelles des villes-ports
Cette recherche propose de mettre en valeur les mutations complexes que connaissent les villes portuaires ou « villes-ports » au niveau mondial. Dans un contexte de recomposition permanente du transport maritime conteneurisé et des dessertes continentales, la mobilité accrue des flux semble toujours plus rentrer en contradiction avec les dynamiques urbaines à plusieurs niveaux géographiques simultanés. La constitution d'une base de données mondiale sur plus de trois cents nœuds nous permet d'analyser le changement produit sur la période récente (1990-2000). Ainsi, le modèle spatio-fonctionnel d'incompatibilité croissante se trouve relativisé grâce aux résultats de l'analyse factorielle des variations temporelles, aboutissant à une forte différentiation régionale des trajectoires ville-port
Nouvelles approches en géographie théorique et quantitative
Air-sea linkages in European port cities
This chapter aims at highlighting the relationships between air, maritime & logistic activities of port cities in Europe. Although recent studies have considered sea-air intermodality as a locational advantage for ports and coastal urban centres, they are still few and isolated case studies. Nevertheless, this subject appears to be of growing interest for transport, logistic players and urban planners to improve port performance in a competitive context. However, there is neither an estimation nor a comparative analysis on effective air-sea relations within port city nodes. We propose a valuation of such potentials based on available and comparable data at a European scale, such as air and maritime traffics, urban population, and employment in specific transport activities (freight forwarding, logistics, warehousing, port and airport services). This innovative approach focuses on the level of interdependency between airports, ports and cities. It shows that air-sea linkages within European port cities are still not strongly interdependent
5th Inha & Le Havre International Conference "International Trade and Logistics, Corporate Strategies and the Global Economy: European and East Asian Experiences"
conference, seminar, workshop communication
Benchmarking urban networking strategies in Europe
In the 1990s in Europe, several initiatives from local governments have been launched under the general term of urban networking, promoting governance renewal and aiming at a better management of hierarchical forces stemming from globalization, resulting in territorial competition and unbalance. However, few studies have evaluated the achievements of such partnerships. This paper argues that the degree of territorial integration of the area within which the strategy takes place is one of the most important factor of its success. A case study of Normandie Métropole (France) and South Coast Metropole Partnership (England) is proposed, using the particular methodology of chorems for spatial analysis. It appears that the hypothesis is well confirmed as the Norman case, suffering from a lack of integration, has been less efficient than the English one for achieving its goals
Port-city relationships in Europe and Asia
This paper investigates the nature of port-city relationships in two major port regions of the world, Europe and Asia. Although this issue is well analyzed through either isolated case studies or general models, it proposes a complementary approach based on urban and port indicators available for 121 port cities. In terms of demographic size and container traffic, it shows the decline of port-urban dependence, stemming from changes in global transportation and urban development. However, European and Asian port cities are not identically confronted to the same challenges, notably in terms of their hinterlands. A factor analysis highlights a regional differentiation of port-city relationships according to their insertion in both urban and port systems, with a core-periphery dualism in Europe and a port-city hierarchy in Asia. Thus, the distance to inland markets for European ports and the size of coastal markets for Asian ports are the main factors to explain the nature of port-city relationships in the two areas. It helps to evaluate which European and Asian port cities are comparable beyond their cargo volumes, by putting together micro (local environments) and macro (regional patterns) factors
Journal of International Logistics and Trade
Les relations entre activités portuaires et développement régional tiennent une place importante dans le monde de la recherche et de la décision. Cependant, le concept de région portuaire est mal défini, et reste souvent confondu avec soit un groupe de ports voisins (façade, rangée), soit une zone terrestre d'acheminement (arrière-pays). Comparer les caractéristiques socio-économiques des unités régionales constituant l'environnement immédiat des ports semble être une solution possible visant à faciliter les comparaisons. Dans les régions portuaires des pays développés, la spécialisation industrielle a des conséquences néfastes sur le trafic portuaire, tandis que le chômage, le produit régional brut, et la concentration tertiaire ont un impact positif. Cette recherche confirme les effets locaux de la mondialisation à travers les liens port-région
Coastal cities, port activities and logistic constraints in a socialist developing country: The case of North Korea
This paper analyses the interplay of transport and development in North Korea, one of the most state-controlled and underdeveloped countries of the world. While broader aspects have been well described by various studies, logistics have been given little attention as permissive or restrictive factors in the country's development. Despite the recent reforms and the growth of trade, the development of North Korea is confronted to the weaknesses of the transport system and inland logistics. An analysis of vessel movements at North Korean ports (1985-2006) shows that although coastal economies may increasingly use maritime transport to overcome inland blockages, the evolution of port traffics better reflects broader trends such as general economic decline, westward shift of populations, and the polarization of economic activities around Pyongyang area. Beside those trends, the research also estimates the importance of maritime transport in North Korean trade and it provides a base upon which further studies can be conducted, so as to better evaluate the place of North Korea among transport studies
While the geographical and economic factors concerning the development of hub ports are widely described by a variety of scholars and professionals, there is no recognized methodology measuring the hub dependence of a given port, region, or country. Based on a 20-years database of vessel movements, this paper proposes a methodology measuring hub dependence. North Korea offers a good case of a constrained economy facing dramatic internal and external pressures. Notably, the weight and geographical extent of its maritime connections are worth analysing because of its contrasted evolution from Soviet influence, geopolitical isolation, and growing trade due to economic reforms and increased foreign investments. The main results of this study show the spatial shift from long-distance calls to feeder calls: global foreland contraction, regionalization within Northeast Asia, and traffic concentration upon closest hubs of which South Korean ports. We conclude that hub dependence is a combination of local constraints and trade growth. The political implications of this phenomenon are explored, and a spatial model of hub dependence is proposed
Maritime Policy & Management / Maritime Policy and Management
A metageography of port-city relationships
This chapter is an empirical attempt to identify the nature and regional dimension of port-city relationships on a world scale. Although general processes of such relationships can be identified in the literature, regional variations are still not well understood when dealing with the insertion of port cities in the global transport chain. An analysis of a world sample is proposed using simple characteristics such as geographical coordinates, urban population, logistic activities, port infrastructures, maritime traffic and transport connections. Factors of port hierarchy, land/sea, port/city, and logistic/intermodal oppositions create north-south and east-west patterns. An equilibrate insertion between different functions or networks gives a sustainable position to some port cities within the transport chain. Finally, this chapter serves as an experimental complement to the study of world regionalisation and global-local processes
Les villes-ports, laboratoires de la mondialisation
Ma thèse intitulée « les villes-ports, laboratoires de la mondialisation » s'intéresse avant tout aux principes d'organisation d'un objet géographique spécifiquement multiscalaire. D'abord, une revue de la littérature en sciences sociales permet de s'apercevoir qu'il est difficile de penser la ville-port dans sa globalité malgré le fait qu'elle est un objet réel identifiable. On a plus des travaux séparés sur les ports ou sur les villes littorales. Le recours à des concepts fondateurs tels que la centralité urbaine, la nodalité portuaire et la réticularité maritime permet d'apporter une synthèse de travaux abondants et dispersés. Il apparaît que le problème fondamental des villes-ports, en théorie, est de dépendre étroitement d'une discontinuité spatiale apportée par l'interface terre-mer, ce qui a des effets morphologiques (taille démographique exceptionnelle) et fonctionnels (spécialisation dans les activités de transfert). Au-delà de ces aspects classiques, le second problème est que ces lieux suscitent et freinent les flux à la fois, les commandent et les exécutent, en vertu d'une insertion plus ou moins forte dans les réseaux des acteurs du transport international, qui en font leurs pivots. Le questionnement global sur les nœuds littoraux appelle une vérification empirique de ce jeu complexe d'échelles, du local au mondial. La possibilité d'analyser un échantillon de 330 lieux répartis de façon homogène sur le globe, à travers quinze variables urbaines, portuaires et maritimes à cette échelle est un premier résultat scientifique. L'analyse factorielle confirme les hypothèses sur la forte hiérarchie qui domine la structure mondiale des réseaux maritimes conteneurisés, sur l'opposition entre centralité urbaine et réticularité maritime, entre attractivité (tertiaire) et accessibilité (nautique). Plus que la validation de principes généraux, l'analyse globale permet de mettre en valeur des regroupements régionaux aux tendances similaires, orientant l'interprétation vers celle d'espaces-mondes aux caractéristiques semblables. Le retour sur les variables initiales, par des traitements simples, permet de différentier ces espaces par un gradient de ‘cohésion' ville-port, de la désarticulation (ex : Caraïbes) à l'imbrication (ex : Australasie). On voit par ailleurs que les logiques spatiales de répartition d'activités spécifiques, telles que le tertiaire maritime, répondent à une logique géographique bien plus qu'à une logique économique : les facteurs de localisation des sièges sociaux ne sont pas les mêmes d'un espace à un autre (ex : préférence urbaine, portuaire, etc.). Enfin, le retour sur une brève comparaison du Havre et de Busan (Corée du Sud) au sein de leur espace-monde est un autre moyen de mettre en lumière l'apport d'une analyse au niveau mondial, en confrontant les résultats au travail de terrain. En conclusion, ce travail est une contribution à la mesure quantitative des mécanismes de la mondialisation à travers le cas des villes-ports. Celles-ci sont d'importants centres ou nœuds du système-monde est sont régies par des principes hiérarchiques et d'opposition urbanité/maritimité. Or ces principes se trouvent renforcés, diminués voire rendus inopérants d'un espace-monde à un autre, plaçant ces lieux dans une triple logique ‘globale' (réseaux mondiaux), ‘régionale' (espace géohistorique de référence englobant le national) et ‘locale' (interface).