Dear colleagues

Please find below a call for papers for a special session on the geography of port system evolution, to be held at the RGS-IBG annual conference in London in August 2014.

We are also planning a special journal issue based on the papers from the session. 

See below for details and please get in touch if you have any questions.

Regards

Jason

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Dr Jason Monios
Senior Research Fellow
Transport Research Institute
Edinburgh Napier University
www.tri.napier.ac.uk 

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BETWEEN PATH DEPENDENCY AND CONTINGENCY: NEW CHALLENGES FOR THE GEOGRAPHY OF PORT SYSTEM EVOLUTION
Special session RGS-IBG annual conference to be held in London, 26-29 August 2014
Session organisers: Gordon Wilmsmeier (UN-ECLAC) and Jason Monios (Transport Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University)


Port development is path dependent to the extent that future action is reliant on past decisions, structures, processes and institutional contexts, but it is also contingent and open-ended as decisions may deviate from an existing development path. Numerous factors influence which path a port follows, but isolating the effects of individual influences is difficult in such a multifaceted and interdependent system. The majority of studies have focused on the temporal dimension of path dependency and contingency while giving less consideration to the spatial dimension. Studies of the geography of port system evolution have revealed trends of concentration and deconcentration as well as centralisation and decentralisation, each influenced by factors such as technological change in the maritime and port industry and port devolution processes in addition to vertical integration and competition strategies in the maritime industry. Moreover, a port system might evolve in a reactive manner to such forces but can equally change as a result of proactive strategies of various stakeholders. Arguably the most difficult aspect of port planning, however, is recognising and dimensioning (spatial and temporal) new challenges yet to be faced.

The session organisers invite papers that identify and examine new influences on port geography. The goal is to highlight new challenges that will determine the next two decades of port system evolution. Submissions analysing port system evolution from different locations, time periods or methodologies, as well as in under-researched spatial contexts (e.g. the Global South) are particularly welcomed.

We are in discussions with a leading international journal to publish the best papers from the session in a special issue on this theme (subject to the quality of the submissions). Submissions from those unable to attend the conference will also be welcomed and considered for the special issue proposal. Although attendance at the session is not compulsory for submission to this special issue, it will provide a unique opportunity for academics to come together and discuss the current issues, recent trends, debates and developments, and future challenges to be faced. The session will be an instrumental part of shaping the special issue and the balance of topics to be included.

Authors, particularly those that would like to be considered for the special issue, must ensure that their papers reflect a strong geographical component, embedded in the geography literature and presenting conclusions of relevance to geographers, ideally not just transport geographers but the wider discipline. Preference will, therefore, be given to papers that demonstrate how port geography benefits from, as well as contributes to, an understanding of geographical theories and methods.

Interested authors are invited to submit a 200-word abstract to the session organisers before 7 February 2014. Please specify if you are interested in the conference session, special issue or both.

Please feel free to contact the session organisers directly to discuss your submission ideas and their suitability for the conference session and/or special issue.