Tangible and Intangible Boundaries: The Case of Baoshan Port-City Interface in Shanghai

Instead of stressing that port cities are characterised by institutional fragmentations with many resulting conflicts, we claim that port cities might be highly constructive in terms of changing tangible and intangible boundaries. To capture this quality, we use the concept of ‘penumbral,’ a combination of perceptional aspects as well as tangible and intangible spatial constellations. This perspective is applied in the case of the Shanghai Baoshan port-city interface through the investigation of the changing tangible and intangible boundaries, and how planning relates to boundary changes in a context of spatial, industrial, and institutional multi-layered structures. Tangible refers to physical boundaries between the port and urban structure or district, while intangible refers to immaterial boundaries created by actors’ views on ports. Based on planning documents, direct observations, and 17 in-depth semi-structured interviews with local governments, port authority, planning departments, and companies, we find that one can indeed speak of penumbral boundaries, based on port-related values and ideas, and particularly on perceptions of the port and port businesses. Those perceptions are the initial power of changing and, following the idea of penumbral boundaries, blurring tangible and intangible boundaries. Finally, we suggest that, following the idea of penumbral boundaries, planning can play a stronger role in connecting the port and the city by first investigating how actors view the port and port businesses carefully, paying full attention to the specific relational context before formulating plans in the usual manner.