Images and Spaces of Port Cities in Transition. Issue 1 (February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kowalewski, Maciej
• Is Part Of: Space and culture. Volume 24:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 53
• Page End: 65
• Publication Date: 2021-02
• Subjects: port city -- postcard -- urban maritime culture -- visual discourse -- maritime sociology; Human geography -- Periodicals; Spatial behavior -- Periodicals; Space (Architecture) -- Periodicals; Personal space -- Periodicals; Human ecology -- Periodicals; Comportement spatial -- Périodiques; Espace (Architecture) -- Périodiques; Espace personnel -- Périodiques; 304.205
• DOI: 10.1177/1206331218783940
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1552-8308

Abstract

The concept of a port city, when narrated by popular visualities, goes through intense transformations of port spaces. Globalization, technological transformations of the maritime industry, and waterfront renewal programs influence a romantic myth of the port town and maritime culture. The aim of the article is to interpret the cultural conventions governing the portrayal of port cities and present a picture postcard as a visual narrative. Visual discourse analysis is used for a study of seven European port cities and their visual representations. Three metaphorical dominants of visual discourse have been distinguished: (1) waterfront and the port town tertiary sector; (2) technology, power, and domination; and (3) maritime culture and romanticism. The postcards that are analyzed reflect a tension between the intensely transformed postindustrial areas and the romantic images of a port city.