Page 15 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 15
Complex Gateways: The North Adriatic Port System in Historical Perspective
too complex to manage for private investors. Historically, the emergence
of some hubs can be seen as the result of private enterprises (as in the
case of airports, chosen by companies as their home base, and then con-
sequently infrastructured), but the emergence of all the major gateways
was the result of some kind of public intervention (D. E. Andersson 2000).
In turn, the localization of fundamental infrastructures in some areas
creates long-term paths, which concentrate and channel not only traf-
fic, but also opportunities for development and further concentration of
flows in that area. A kind of virtuous circle, able to make the gateway re-
gion more and more central, and the surrounding territories dependent.
Again, the North Adriatic case fits the definition. The entries of
both Trieste and Rijeka into modern world trade were decided by the
Habsburg monarchy, and supported over time respecting the dual nature
of the Habsburg possessions: Trieste was the gateway for the Austrian
half of the Empire, and Rijeka for the Hungarian half. Two world wars
broke the old arrangement into pieces, and very slowly a new equilibri-
um emerged after the Second World War, when Trieste was recognized as
the Southern link of the Iron Curtain, and the federal organization of the
new Yugoslavia assigned Rijeka to Croatia, leaving Slovenia to commit to
having its own maritime outlet.
This new polycentric asset did not dismantle the gateway nature of
the region. As in other cases (Houtum, Kramsch, and Zierhofer 2005),
the rigidity of the infrastructural network was almost impossible to over-
come in the short term. On the contrary, the new situation pushed that
role towards a higher level of complexity, where the actors did not collab-
orate directly, but were forced to take into consideration the others’ ac-
tions when they drafted their future perspectives. In the case of Koper, as
Rogoznica displays in her chapter, the possibility of a development close-
ly linked with Trieste was taken into consideration, notwithstanding the
politically hot nature of the border dividing the two cities.
At the same time, the coexistence of three seaports in a single region
was not easy. In this case, the literature regarding the so-called ‘ports in
proximity’ can help in designing a theoretical background (Notteboom,
Ducruet, and de Langen 2009). Following this line of inquiry, the research-
ers have underlined how the multilevel and multispecialized organiza-
tion of modern trade flows not only allows the coexistence of different
ports within the same gateway region, but in some cases even favours it.
The price to pay consists of a more than proportional increase in manage-
15
too complex to manage for private investors. Historically, the emergence
of some hubs can be seen as the result of private enterprises (as in the
case of airports, chosen by companies as their home base, and then con-
sequently infrastructured), but the emergence of all the major gateways
was the result of some kind of public intervention (D. E. Andersson 2000).
In turn, the localization of fundamental infrastructures in some areas
creates long-term paths, which concentrate and channel not only traf-
fic, but also opportunities for development and further concentration of
flows in that area. A kind of virtuous circle, able to make the gateway re-
gion more and more central, and the surrounding territories dependent.
Again, the North Adriatic case fits the definition. The entries of
both Trieste and Rijeka into modern world trade were decided by the
Habsburg monarchy, and supported over time respecting the dual nature
of the Habsburg possessions: Trieste was the gateway for the Austrian
half of the Empire, and Rijeka for the Hungarian half. Two world wars
broke the old arrangement into pieces, and very slowly a new equilibri-
um emerged after the Second World War, when Trieste was recognized as
the Southern link of the Iron Curtain, and the federal organization of the
new Yugoslavia assigned Rijeka to Croatia, leaving Slovenia to commit to
having its own maritime outlet.
This new polycentric asset did not dismantle the gateway nature of
the region. As in other cases (Houtum, Kramsch, and Zierhofer 2005),
the rigidity of the infrastructural network was almost impossible to over-
come in the short term. On the contrary, the new situation pushed that
role towards a higher level of complexity, where the actors did not collab-
orate directly, but were forced to take into consideration the others’ ac-
tions when they drafted their future perspectives. In the case of Koper, as
Rogoznica displays in her chapter, the possibility of a development close-
ly linked with Trieste was taken into consideration, notwithstanding the
politically hot nature of the border dividing the two cities.
At the same time, the coexistence of three seaports in a single region
was not easy. In this case, the literature regarding the so-called ‘ports in
proximity’ can help in designing a theoretical background (Notteboom,
Ducruet, and de Langen 2009). Following this line of inquiry, the research-
ers have underlined how the multilevel and multispecialized organiza-
tion of modern trade flows not only allows the coexistence of different
ports within the same gateway region, but in some cases even favours it.
The price to pay consists of a more than proportional increase in manage-
15
