Port Cities Case Study

1766 Words4 Pages

Introduction
The historical and contemporary roles of Singapore, Hong Kong and Port Louis as ports have indeed been drivers of economic and social change. For many years now these three cities and many others have thrived off the revenue generated by their ports. The growth of a port has ongoing economic and social ripple effects that change not only the shape of the city but the country as a whole . The aim of this essay is to show how the role of port cities contributes towards such changes. The three cities mentioned above earlier will be used as case specific studies because of their role in the monopoly of ports. The essay will show how the cities have grown and developed over the years and subsequently how development accrued by the ports has also produced counterproductive outcomes.
Defining key terms
Ports are logistic pathways and supply chains that deliver value to shippers and to third party service providers . They are areas of particular and specific functions which are value driven . They are coastal locations with the capacity to harbor ships for the transfer of goods and people to, and offshore . Ports are highly dependent on being within navigable water and easy access to land. The significance of the port is that it captures value for itself and the chain in which it is embedded .
Shifts or a modification of a society’s social order is what is referred to as Social change . These changes may be in the form of evolution of social progress of institutions, the environment, behavior, or relations. It may also refer to classic changes in socio-economic structure, like the move from agriculturalist towards industrialized economies. Consequently social upheavals leading to revolutions may also be termed social chang...

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...ntages of trade and they continue to grow within the global environment. Strategic organization of ports creates abundant economic outcomes such as tourism, skills development, employment opportunities and improvement in quality of life for inhabitants of the port city due to increase in revenue, just to mention a few. On the other end of the spectrum however lie some negative consequences of port development. These include crimes such as drug and human trafficking closely linked to prostitution, piracy, environmental crimes and terrorism. This shows that with growth and development of ports, follows inevitable economic and social changes. Singapore, Hong Kong and Port Louis have all managed to harness their geographic advantage for economic development. The counterproductive outcomes can be policed through activism and tight regulation of the port.

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