Global Supply Chains, Post-pandemic Port Cities, and the Future Role of Waterfronts

We invited Dr. Zaheer Allam to comment the discussion on the 1st webinar of AIVP "How to Plan Waterfronts After Covid-19?". In this article, he raises new points to be taken into consideration for the economic recovery plans and the effects the Corona-Crisis may have on waterfront areas. Zaheer also emphasizes how this moment is as well an opportunity to reflect on dominant principles for waterfront planning, such as the application of smart tech, and to reconnect these areas with local inhabitants. The article is an invitation for AIVP members to continue the brainstorming and improve the port-city relationship. Dr. Zaheer Allam is member of the Network of Experts of AIVP As the epicentre of the coronavirus followed the sun-path from east to west, global supply chains grappled with subsequent tremors. First China, the world’s manufacturing power, was placed on lockdown, cutting not only the world from a steady supply of goods -never uninterrupted in the last few decades, but also led to a demand-supply crisis within the country itself. With a series of regional subsequent lockdowns, factories scrambled production feasibilities and had to re-evaluate/re-invent themselves to serve demand locally -being more pressing, while also preparing for global backlog orders. Second, as the virus started migrating in the following weeks and months, other nations instituted lockdowns which coincided with the ‘de-lockdown’ of Chinese cities. Now that China could resume production and supply, the demand market was frozen. In a few years, university students studying supply chains will resume this succinctly as being a case of a supply shock superseded a demand shock. The reason? Globalisation led to centralised nodes of production, now being seen as non-resilient in the long term. The impacts of the coronavirus are not temporary as they have had far reaching consequences on the global political and economic landscape. Port cities, being the mediator between global supply chains and local ones and a conveyor of jobs and liveability for its residents and users, are directly concerned and have already entered in re-structuring of not only protocols and resources, but also in re-evaluating their future roles in economy and society. One key role of port cities, often under evaluated is that of its role in stocking products, for later being dispatched either in bulk, or parts to selected destinations. The coronavirus highlighted this role perhaps more than ever. With China on lockdown, we saw images of people rushing to supermarkets, with even reports of fist fights in certain isles. The strain of products led to global worries of food shortages, including items like toilet paper -which has now equated to have being a psychologically-driven demand rather than needs-driven. While a few months of ‘break’ from the supply chain may seem minute on the grand scale of things, this has deep consequences. For example,…