From fishing port to transport hub? Local voices on the identity of places and flows

This paper investigates the relationship between port and city and how changes in the port-related activities affect livability of the coastal community. Building from the port-city relationships model by Ducruet (2007), categorising port-cities into 9 different typologies, we argue that a port-city is not stable and can in fact shift in typology based on changes in either port or city related activities. These activities are closely linked, and changes in one domain will most likely affect others. For example, as maritime industries change, the local communities have to adapt. We employ the case of Hirtshals, Denmark, which has changed from a fishing port to a transit hub. The paper seeks to understand port-city transitions, and questions whether a balance between city and port is indeed the most desirable, orat least is preferred to situations where the port outweighs the city? Through the combination of two independent doctoral research projects both investigating the dynamics of Hirtshals, Denmark in the period of 2013-2015, the paper provides rich empirical insights, primarily from interviews but also ethnographic and other observation methods, into the locals’ way of coping with the transitions and their experience of local identity, culture and heritage in relation to the place in which they live and workand the flows passing and connecting the port-city. The case of Hirtshals gives insights on the intended balance between port and town and the implications for emphasizing port development independent of the local community.