Boris Vormann - Global Port Cities in North America: Urbanization Processes and Global Production Networks

First published 2015
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ISBN: 978-1-138-81402-8 (hbk)
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I first started to think about the port city as a site of political relevance and an object of academic interest in 2007. Hardly did it occur to me that New York City, where I had lived for almost half a year by that time, was a port city, let alone that it was the most important port city on the North American East Coast. As I was to find out later, I was not alone in this (mis-) perception. The invisibility of maritime infrastructure, I came to realize in the course of my research, was one of its defining features, in New York City as well as elsewhere on the North American continent.

Two almost coinciding events animated me to reflect more profoundly on the role of ports and intermodal logistics in processes of globalization. In November 2007 I participated in a workshop on Homeland Security at the Student Conference on U.S. Affairs (SCUSA) hosted at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The main focus of that workshop was on the challenges and potential strategies of port security in the post-9/11 era. If port and supply chain security was a key aspect of homeland security strategies, I wondered, how could I have missed its centrality despite my interest in questions of international security? My second encounter with the port and maritime infrastructure followed only two months later. In an internship with the United Nations Association of the United States of America and the Business Council for the United Nations, I participated in a campaign that examined the impacts of the Ports of New York and New Jersey on the livelihoods of port-adjacent communities. Under the guidance of Reverend Chuck Rawlings and Professor David Bensman an infrastructure that supported the workings of New York Citys metropolitan area revealed itself to me. Globalization did have a measurable impact on the city, on labor markets and immigrants. But what exactly was this impact? Why was it so important, and at the same time so invisible?

As in the context of these early encounters with experts and practitioners, I have benefitted enormously from the insights of others many times. I am deeply grateful for the generosity that many people along the way of my research have offered me in the course of the past five years. It would have been impossible to write this book, which is a completely revised version of my dissertation thesis, without their guidance and support. I wish to thank my PhD advisors who have been a source of unrelenting inspiration, motivation, and help. I have benefitted from their constant support and openness, for which I am very thankful. Margit Mayer has continuously provided me with helpful advice, ideas for improvement, and words of encouragement; she has trusted me and has not hesitated to introduce me to her colleagues and friends. In many ways she has ensured the advancement of my research, both during and after my doctoral studies. Her thoughts about urban development and neoliberalization processes have had a formative influence on my workand I am looking forward to future collaborations. Winfried Fluck has shown his readiness to accept and supervise a dissertation in political science. His interests in the connections between cultural and economic narratives and his thought-provoking seminars have been an inspiration to my work during my time at the Graduate School of North American Studies. Our debates on post-exceptionalist American Studies and interdisciplinary research are to be continued. Christian Lammert, my third supervisor, has provided me with excellent criticism, always paired with instructive advice. His willingness to engage with my maritime and urban interests, his enthusiasm for my work, and his optimism have helped to strengthen my thesis significantly. Meanwhile, I am very happy to call him both a colleague and a friend. I value our collaborative projects a lot. Finally, although technically speaking he was not in my supervision team, I would like to equally thank Ingo Kolboom in the same breath, because as a professor at Technische Universitt Dresden, as a scholar, and as a close friend, I have benefitted from his support andprofessional and personaladvice many times. Without him, I would not have envisaged a career in academia. Also, I am very grateful to Lora Viola and Bettina Engels for having accepted to be on my defense committee.