By Francesca Savoldi
While the relationship between ports and cities has grown increasingly complex and contested since the 1990s, port cities have been largely overlooked by critical socio-spatial disciplines. By integrating perspectives from critical geography and political ecology, the MSC-funded project "Contested Port Cities: A Global Geography of Community Struggles" has redefined port cities as arenas of friction and social mobilization, opening new avenues for critical analysis. The project explores how logistical dynamics are reshaping urban geography and socio-ecological relationships in port cities, revealing emerging power imbalances, urban and socio-environmental conflicts, and forms of community struggles.
The project has both theoretical and practical implications. In addition to academic publications, one significant outcome is the online platform "ContestedPorts," which maps social mobilizations related to port expansion in collaboration with local community members. This platform has facilitated transdisciplinary interactions between academia and civil society, fostering informal networks of civic groups across various port cities and promoting knowledge exchange and transnational dialogue on the evolving relationship between ports and cities.
About the speaker:
Francesca Savoldi is a human geographer (PhD) concerned with the intersections of power, politics, space, and place in coastal and maritime areas. Her recent research has delved into the urban geography and political ecology of port cities and coastal territories. As a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow at TU Delft (2021-2023), Francesca critically examined the evolving dynamics of the port-city relationship, focusing on contemporary power imbalances, urban and socio-environmental conflicts and resulting social resistance. She is the founder of ContestedPorts.com, an online platform dedicated to mapping social mobilizations in port cities.
Previously, Francesca was a research associate at the Jean Monnet Chair in EU Integrated Maritime Policy at the University Nova, Lisbon, where she examined the transformation of maritime spaces, economies, and politics.
As of 2024, Francesca is a lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Economy at Ca’ Foscari University, and a visiting researcher at Erasmus university and TU Delft.
