This isn’t an informed guess, but I’d imagine it has to do with ground suitability, as well as risks caused by the ocean and weather. I recently read an article that major cities in the area, away from the coast, are causing the ground to sink below their weight.

The ability to perform a task well, possessing a useful/impressive/entertaining skill, or at least being useful to a group has generally rewarded a person with status throughout human history, regardless of motive or incentive. Sometimes, that status is limited to very specific peers, though it can often provide various levels of status in a larger societal sense.