Urban historians have been criticized, perhaps unfairly, for being concerned primarily with self-contained processes that operate within the boundaries of individual towns and cities. As a result, the relationship between cities and their hinterlands has often been neglected. This lack of research is particularly problematic in the case of port-cities, where an emphasis on their transit function has reinforced the view that the connections between individual ports and their hinterlands were limited and geographically disconnected.

Most ports, irrespective of their size, had a series of overlapping hinterlands whose shifting importance reflected changes in trading relations, migration patterns, family networks, and cultural exchange. The two-day international workshop is intended to develop new approaches and analytical tools for studying the relationship between port-cities and their hinterlands, concentrating primarily on the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It will focus on the following themes:

* The factors which determined the changing nature of port-hinterland relations.
* The development of port-cities within the wider framework of distinct, but interrelated, fields of interaction with their respective hinterlands.
* The ways in which port-cities interacted and intersected with their different hinterlands through in-,and out-migration, cultural exchange and the wider flow of goods, services, and information.
* New analytical and theoretical approaches for analysing port-hinterland relations.

Proposals for papers are invited from scholars working in any relevant field and participation in the international workshop will be particularly welcomed from graduate students and academics in the early stages of their careers.

Applicants should submit a 400-word proposal and a brief c.v. (in Word, RTF or PDF format) by Friday 13th July 2007. Participants whose papers have been accepted will be notified by Friday 7th September 2007.

The international workshop will be held on the 7th and 8th December 2007 at the School of History, University of Liverpool, and at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. Limited financial support will be available to help with travel costs, particularly for graduate students: food and refreshments will be provided by the workshop organisers.