State-of-the-art studies

Port-cities are not only cities that exist on the shoreline, but economic centres, which are maritime-based by nature. These cities are thriving on maritime flows and connections to trade dynamics, which allow them to take advantage of their strategic location and commercial connections. Maritime ports and the cities hosting them, i.e. port-cities, have long fascinated scholars—geographers, economists, architects, urban planners, sociologists etc.—as they become centres of exchange where different social and urban environments meet, at the intersection between land and sea. This introductory chapter sets the foundation for the twofold argument of this book on port-city development trajectories throughout time, and the evolution of port geography, East versus the West.