The city-island-state

Island cities, urban islands, and city states are terms often used to refer to islands within the context of urbanisation. However, little attention has been given to cities per se. Here we outline our concept of the city-island-state which is explored in more detail in our 2021 paper. The underpinning characteristic of this concept is the interconnectivity between ‘city’ and ‘state’, and the way in which they are embedded in ‘island(ness)’. We use the example of the small island country of Malta to illustrate and discuss our conceptualisation and understanding of the term ‘city-island-state’.

Cities and islands often coincide with cities such as Tokyo, Copenhagen, and New York City, being located on islands. Geographers and island studies scholars regularly use concepts such as the island city and urban islands. Studies of Venice, Italy, for example, tend to emphasise its islandness and present it as the quintessential island city with life characterised by the island. Also in some instances, sovereign island states with dominant cities and/or urban agglomerations are referred to as city-states or island city states; examples of these include Singapore and Bahrain. However, there have been only a few instances in which highly urbanised islands have been studied through the lens of them being cities in both form and function.

Previous studies have primarily emphasised either the ‘island’ and ‘islandness’, with a focus on the island form, or individual spatial components (like the city, the island, or the state). In contrast, we believe that it is vital to consider these interactions in order to be able to better understand small, highly urbanised, advanced, sovereign island states, and hence argue that these island states operate as cities with integrated urban systems within their island and state contexts.

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Located in the central Mediterranean, Malta is a small archipelago comprising three main islands: Malta, Gozo, and Comino. It is a sovereign state and member of the European Union (EU). Malta has been variously considered to be an island state and/or a city-state. Here we discuss Malta as a city-island-state, a concept which recognises the interactions between city, island, and state.

Historically, the island state of Malta was made-up of many individually distinctive towns and cities, surrounded by walls (i.e. walled ‘city islands’) and/or the countryside. For example, cities such as Mdina, Valletta, and Senglea/L-Isla have been described as walled ‘city islands’ since c. 1900 (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Examples of the walled 'city islands' of Malta. Top: Valletta; Bottom Left: Senglea/L-Isla; Bottom Right: Mdina. Photos by Geoff Main.

Where once there were 25 clearly demarcated individual cities, towns, and villages, these settlements are now coalescing and are encompassed within the central core of the dominant urban agglomeration located in the north and east of the island of Malta. This urban expanse constitutes the urban, political, economic, administrative, and transportation hub of the whole island state centred on Valletta, the capital. More distant settlements on the island of Malta such as St. Paul’s Bay, Luqa, and Marsaxlokk, as well as settlements on the island of Gozo, are also incorporated into this urban area.

Furthermore, Malta has a growing population (over 0.5 million people; 2019) and a small area (Maltese state total area: 316km2; Malta island: 246km2). Its high population density coupled with an economic and property development boom since c. 2004, have contributed to making Malta the most built-up EU Member State (Figure 2). A documentary by French television goes further, evidencing that Malta is the most concreted-over country in Europe with buildings covering over 25% of the total surface area with 11,000 new-building permits issued per year since 2017; the equivalent of one permit for every 12 inhabitants over the last four years.

Figure 3. Artificial land cover amongst EU Member States. Built-up artificial: buildings; Non-built-up artificial: transport networks and associated areas (e.g.). Data source: Landsat 2015 Eurostat.

In 2018, there were over 203,000 people employed in service-type industries (with a total GDP contribution of c. 76%; agriculture: 0.8%; industry: 12.1%). A significant concentration of this economic activity is found within the urban agglomeration of east-central Malta. Within the area shown in Figure 2, over 2,300 companies are located, accounting for over 50% of all registered companies in Malta. This includes companies specialising in: wholesale and retail trade; accommodation and food services, including those related to tourism; information and communication; financial and insurance; real estate; professional services; public administration; defence; education; health and social work; arts entertainment and recreation. Given that each of the people employed in this urban area earn an average annual salary of €16,631-€21,294 (Malta average: €18,945 (2018)), it is clear that this urban core serves as the economic powerhouse for the Maltese islands.

In fact, nowhere in Malta operates beyond the sphere of the urban, or the city. In essence, Malta operates as a single city with an urban core, suburbs, and a rural hinterland. Comparisons can be drawn between the island state of Malta, and other heavily urbanised island states in relation to their area, population, and GDP per capita. We argue that these examples, including Singapore and Bahrain, can also be identified as city-island-states.

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In summary, our conceptualisation and understanding of the city-island-state is as follows. A city-island-state is an island state in which: the urban area is extensive relative to the size of the island(s) as a whole; its concentration of economic activities is so significant, and its population is large and of high density, that it acts not just as a city and city-state, but as a city-state with the characteristics of an island state.

We argue that recognising the interactions between the three spatial levels of city, island, and state and framing them through the concept of city-island-state, is vital to understanding small, heavily urbanised, advanced, sovereign island states.

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Authors:

Geoff Main PhD

Geoff Main is a Lecturer in Geography at the University of Exeter. His research interests include: natural hazards; disaster risk reduction; urban geography, and small island states.

Janet Speake PhD

Janet Speake is an Honorary Research Fellow at Liverpool Hope University and a Visiting Scholar at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research interests include: economic geography; urban regeneration; neoliberalism; visual culture, and our engagements with Sat-Nav technologies.

John A Schembri PhD

John Schembri is a Professor of Geography at the University of Malta. His research interests include: coasts; early 20th century cartography; demographic variables of the mid-19th century, and geo-physical hazards.

Ritienne Gauci PhD

Ritienne Gauci is a Lecturer in Geography at the University of Malta. Her research interests include: geomorphology; traditional cartography; geosites and geoheritage, and natural hazards.

David Chester PhD

David Chester is a Senior Fellow at the University of Liverpool and Professor Emeritus at Liverpool Hope University. His research focuses on environmental hazards and the interface between natural processes and human responses, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean.