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Financialisation of Built Environments: Urban Governance, Social Geographies, and Sustainability

Farahani, Ilia LU and Clark, Eric LU (2016) In FESSUD Working Paper Series
Abstract
This paper is about the ways in which financialisation of built environments has
impacted upon the politics, social constitution and sustainability of cities. We focus primarily on financialisation of housing, and do so from the methodological
perspective of variegated financialisation: as a generic process that contextually coevolves with related processes such as neoliberalisation and polarisation,
encompassing variegated sets of institutions and social relations. Financialisation is a process whereby privatisation, commodification and securitisation of resources and elements of (built) environments allow for the penetration of financial control and decision-making power into the fabric of societies and environments. Housing... (More)
This paper is about the ways in which financialisation of built environments has
impacted upon the politics, social constitution and sustainability of cities. We focus primarily on financialisation of housing, and do so from the methodological
perspective of variegated financialisation: as a generic process that contextually coevolves with related processes such as neoliberalisation and polarisation,
encompassing variegated sets of institutions and social relations. Financialisation is a process whereby privatisation, commodification and securitisation of resources and elements of (built) environments allow for the penetration of financial control and decision-making power into the fabric of societies and environments. Housing is financialised when it is treated above all as a financial asset, i.e. for its exchange value, rather than for its use value. We conclude that financialisation of housing has had severely adverse impacts on democracy, social cohesion and sustainability. Policies for containing financialisation of housing need to include measures to decommodify housing and urban space more generally, institutionalise floors and ceilings on income and wealth, deepen democracy and use-value-oriented decisionmaking, and replace market-fundamentalist ideology with egalitarian ideas that recognise our interdependence, how we mutually constitute one another, how we are
dependent upon and owe solidarity to others. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Financialisation, Built Environment, Housing, Variegated Capitalism, Comparative Urbanism, Urban Governance, Social Geographies, Sustainability
in
FESSUD Working Paper Series
issue
168
pages
46 pages
publisher
FESSUD
ISSN
2052-8035
2052-8035
project
7th Framework Program, Financialisation, economy, society and sustainable development
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5efa3f93-216b-4cef-adb8-25ebad0ad15f
alternative location
http://fessud.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FESSUD_WP168_Financialisation-of-built-environments-urban-governance-social-geographiessustainability.pdf
date added to LUP
2016-12-10 17:18:21
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:28:09
@misc{5efa3f93-216b-4cef-adb8-25ebad0ad15f,
  abstract     = {{This paper is about the ways in which financialisation of built environments has<br/>impacted upon the politics, social constitution and sustainability of cities. We focus primarily on financialisation of housing, and do so from the methodological<br/>perspective of variegated financialisation: as a generic process that contextually coevolves with related processes such as neoliberalisation and polarisation,<br/>encompassing variegated sets of institutions and social relations. Financialisation is a process whereby privatisation, commodification and securitisation of resources and elements of (built) environments allow for the penetration of financial control and decision-making power into the fabric of societies and environments. Housing is financialised when it is treated above all as a financial asset, i.e. for its exchange value, rather than for its use value. We conclude that financialisation of housing has had severely adverse impacts on democracy, social cohesion and sustainability. Policies for containing financialisation of housing need to include measures to decommodify housing and urban space more generally, institutionalise floors and ceilings on income and wealth, deepen democracy and use-value-oriented decisionmaking, and replace market-fundamentalist ideology with egalitarian ideas that recognise our interdependence, how we mutually constitute one another, how we are<br/>dependent upon and owe solidarity to others.}},
  author       = {{Farahani, Ilia and Clark, Eric}},
  issn         = {{2052-8035}},
  keywords     = {{Financialisation; Built Environment; Housing; Variegated Capitalism; Comparative Urbanism; Urban Governance; Social Geographies; Sustainability}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{168}},
  publisher    = {{FESSUD}},
  series       = {{FESSUD Working Paper Series}},
  title        = {{Financialisation of Built Environments: Urban Governance, Social Geographies, and Sustainability}},
  url          = {{http://fessud.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FESSUD_WP168_Financialisation-of-built-environments-urban-governance-social-geographiessustainability.pdf}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}