Cities and News

This Element examines urban imaginaries during the expansion of international news between the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, when everyday information about faraway places found its way into newspapers all over the world. Building on the premise that news carried an unprecedented power to shape representations of the world, it follows this development as it made its way to regular readers beyond the dominant information poles, in the great port-cities of the South American Atlantic. Based on five case studies of typical turn-of-the-century foreign news, Lila Caimari shows how current events opened windows onto distant cities, feeding a new world horizon that was at once wider and eminently urban.

Natural, Technical and Social Threats and Their Impact on the Safety of Polish Offshore Urban Agglomerations

The links between a port and its city, region and further economic hinterland mean that the socio-economic processes taking place in a seaport affect not only the economic and social phenomena occurring in the port itself, but also the development processes on a regional and national scale, which directly affect hundreds of thousands of people. The research problem is: How to eliminate port threats that translate directly into urban and community safety? The goal is to be able to recognise and minimise threats and implement solutions that ensure not only the safety of ports but also of neighbouring urban agglomerations. Seaport development plans must be correlated with the development of port security systems and measures. The transformation of ports into fourth-generation ports brings with it an increase in technical threats which obliges both the governmental maritime administration and port operators to pay special attention to security. The study used theoretical research methods, i.e. literature analysis, analysis of phenomena occurring in the economy and inference as a cognitive factor of the analysed subject. The results of the research indicate that ensuring security, i.e. minimising threats, before emergencies arise, in port cities and regions is a guarantee not only of smooth development and functioning of the economy but also of undisturbed international cooperation and exchange. The use of appropriate solutions to minimise the threats associated with the activities of seaports significantly affects not only their safety but also the safety of the port urban agglomerations and the maritime transport chain. As a result, it contributes to the urban and economic development of port cities and entire regions.

Southeast Asia’s Colonial Port Cities in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Southeast Asia’s colonial ports often supplanted early trading emporiums within Asia, and by the 19th century a number of ports played important roles in European imperial networks, making them significant hubs not only regionally but also in global networks. Such ports included the British-administered Straits Settlement of Singapore, Penang, Malacca (now more commonly referred to as Melaka); the Dutch-administered Batavia, Semarang, and Makassar (in the Java Sea); the French-administered Saigon; and the Spanish (later American) administered Manila (in the South China Sea). Importantly, some of these ports had earlier histories as trading emporiums, but reached a highpoint of connectivity with global networks in the 19th and 20th centuries. These colonial port cities were not only hubs for trade and travelers but served as gateways or imperial bridgeheads connecting maritime centers to the peoples and economies of the port hinterlands, drawing them into a global (imperial) economy. The economic, political, and technological frameworks in colonial ports served to reinforce European control. Colonial port cities also played a role in knowledge circulations and the introduction of technologies, which changed transport and modes of production and urban planning. The colonial port cities of Southeast Asia were also important in terms of the strategic defense of European interests in the region. Regarded as entry points for technology and colonial capitalism, and often modeled with elements of European aesthetics and design, port cities could also be sites of urban development and planning. The development of residential enclaves, ethnic quarters, and commercial districts served to shape the morphology of the colonial ports of Asia. Colonial port city communities were oftentimes regarded as important sites of cultural exchange and hybridity. These port cities were often built on existing indigenous trading centers or fishing villages. Cosmopolitan in nature, and open to the movement of trading diasporas, port cities served as entry points for not only commercial communities, but in the 19th century saw the increased movement of European colonial administrators, scientists, writers, and travelers between ports. Another important influx was labor (convict, indentured, and free) throughout Southeast Asia’s ports. By the early 20th century, colonial ports were sites of new intellectual and social currents, including anticolonial sentiment, in part driven by the circulation of news and press and also, by diasporic community influences and interests. Following World War II, many colonial ports were revived as national ports. By exploring the colonial port cities of Southeast Asia along a number of themes it is possible to understand why scholars have often described the colonial port city as a “connecting force” (or bridgehead) linking ports and port communities (and economies) to the European imperial project and the global economy. An examination of the colonial port city of Southeast Asia offers scholars the potential to bridge numerous historical fields including, but not restricted to, imperial history, Southeast Asian history, maritime history, urban and sociocultural histories, and economic and labor histories.