Conclusion: the social environments of port cities in the longue durée

Summarizing the key findings of this special issue, our conclusion embeds them into the long-term history of cities extending to our present age. Some of the cities treated in our special issue have since turned into megacities marked by environmental hazards and extreme socio-economic inequalities. Their combination invites rethinking the interdependence of natural, built and social environments in urban contexts in the longue durée. Interweaving nine case-studies of cities in different world regions, our special issue demonstrates that a sustained environmental focus and the longue durée approach enriches current scholarship on port cities, and also nurtures discussion on the long-term consequences of the coastalization of the world population, thereby contributing to the fields of global and imperial history as a whole.