Port Systems in Global Competition : Spatial-Economic Perspectives on the Co-Development of Seaports

"In a world where most international trade is carried by sea, each port can be seen as a unique chokepoint competing to attract ever more traffic and economic activities. However, ports can also be seen as parts of a wider system, which can be defined as a system of two or more ports located in proximity within a given area. Their fate and governance is jointly influenced when belonging to the same region, country, or transnational space. Investments, shocks, innovations, and delays occurring in one port often affect other ports within a certain spatial range and time lapse. Further understanding of such co-developments in port systems is necessary to go beyond local specificities, through a multidisciplinary and multi-level contribution. Port Systems in Global Competition is an answer to the strong and urgent need for reviewing the relevant theories, concepts, methods, and sources that can be mobilized for the analysis of port systems. With contributions from reputable scholars coming from no less than 11 countries in Europe, Asia, and North America, this book delves into the analysis of port systems from diverse disciplinary angles (geography, regional science, economics, management, engineering, and mathematics/computer sciences), and covering innovative empirical approaches to various port systems in the world. The theoretical and empirical knowledge can support and enhance decision-making in relation with the development of ports, supply chains, and transport networks in general. This book is an ideal companion to academics and upper-level students interested in the analysis of transport and economic systems in general, as well as the effective ways to answer complex issues in transportation and socio-economic development. It will be a valuable resource for those researching or studying transportation and supply chains, maritime and port economics, as well as regional development and human geography"-- Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents List of figures List of tables List of contributors Acknowledgements 1 Post-pandemic social work and the welfare state 2 Communovirus: ethical community for social work in a ‘post’-COVID world 3 The modern welfare state and the post-pandemic world 4 Post-pandemic social work and the death of neoliberalism 5 Social work in the post-COVID state: emancipatory or the long arm of the control and coercion 6 The convergence between neoliberalism and digital technology: awakening individual and societal consciousness for a sustainable, resilient and just post-pandemic world 7 Is the genie out of the bottle? Societal and political implications of domestic military deployments during the COVID-19 pandemic 8 Feminist response to COVID-19: is it time for feminist social policies? 9 Disrupting masculinism in public policy responses to COVID-19 – unmasking the gendered dimensions of the pandemic 10 Re-imagining the place for social work in the post-pandemic welfare: lessons from the Italian experience 11 More trouble in a welfare paradise: Sweden’s problematic welfare policy and practice response to the pandemic 12 Multidimensional, multicultural and inclusive approaches to social welfare in post-pandemic Australia 13 Grassroots solidarity in social work: strengthening the welfare state beyond COVID-19 through social impact in the field of child abuse 14 The silencing of social workers during COVID-19 emergency measures: an assessment 15 Examining China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic: reflections of social workers from the field 16 Welfare policy statements during the mega-crisis: challenges for Estonia 17 A moment of fuzziness: connections between shifting notions of ‘home’ and welfare arrangements ‘back home’ for Black Zimbabwean migrants living under COVID-19 travel restrictions in Australia 18 COVID in Black Australia 19 COVID-19 and the welfare state – social work’s practice and policy Index