Spatial glocalization in Asia-Pacific hub port cities: A comparison of Hong Kong and Singapore

Abstract

International audience ; Business environment in which a port carries out its operation is increasingly reflected by intra- and inter-port competition on regional and global scales, resulting in port concentration and deconcentration. While a number of recent studies interpret those phenomena as impacts from global forces such as containerisation, little has been done about local forces such as the evolving relationships between urban policy and port growth. This paper proposes to compare how the two global hub port cities of Hong Kong and Singapore have sustained their port activities while transforming into major economic centres. Entropy indexes are calculated by district, based on service industries related to port activities between 1993 and 2004. Results show the spatial shifts of port-related activities stemming from simultaneous factors, such as port competition which affects the international position of Hong Kong and Singapore, and lack of space and congestion at the port-city interface. However, one main differentiating factor in the evolution of the two hub port cities is the varying impact of regional cross-border relations with mainland China and Malaysia. ; L'environnement économique dans lequel un port exerce son activité se caractérise par une concurrence à la fois intra et inter-portuaire aux échelles régionale et mondiale, se traduisant par un double phénomène de concentration et déconcentration du trafic. L'angle global de la conteneurisation se conjugue avec celui local des relations changeantes entre politique urbaine et croissance portuaire. Cet article compare comment deux villes globales et hub portuaires, Hong Kong et Singapour, ont pu maintenir leur activité portuaire tout en se transformant en centres économiques majeurs. Des indices d'entropie sont calculés par district à partir de la localisation du tertiaire portuaire entre 1993 et 2004. Les résultats montrent le glissement spatial des activités liées au port de par la concurrence portuaire et la congestion interne à l'interface ...