“The Hoist of the Yellow Flag”: Vulnerable Port Cities and Public Health

Schubert, Dirk; Wagenaar, C.; Hein, C.M.

doi:10.1177/1538513221998716

“The Hoist of the Yellow Flag”

Title

“The Hoist of the Yellow Flag”: Vulnerable Port Cities and Public Health

Author

Schubert, Dirk (Hamburg University of Technology)
Wagenaar, C. (TU Delft History & Complexity)
Hein, C.M. (TU Delft History & Complexity)

Date

2021

Abstract

Port cities have long played a key role in the development, discovery, and fight against diseases. They have been laboratories for policies to address public health issues. Diseases reached port cities through maritime exchanges, and the bubonic plague is a key example. Port city residents’ close contact with water further increased the chance for diseases such as cholera. Analyzing three European port cities, this article first explores the relevance of water quality for public health through the lens of the Dutch city of Rotterdam. It then examines plans and projects for London that were shaped by social Darwinism and stressed the moral failings of slum dwellers as a major cause for their misery. It finally explores the case of Hamburg as the perfect example of a city that cultivated ideals of purity and cleanliness by addressing all issues at stake in public health. This article on urban hygiene in three port cities shows how remarkably rich this field of study is; it also demonstrates that the multifaceted aspects of public health in port cities require further attention.

Subject

public health
port cities
Rotterdam
London
Hamburg

To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f371a148-f33c-4eab-8627-2ddfdb787f83

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/1538513221998716

ISSN

1538-5132

Source

Journal of Planning History, 21 (1), 56-78

Part of collection

Institutional Repository