Abstract
The focus of urban politics in many contexts has shifted from municipal regimes ‘competing’ for circulating capital to a wide range of actors, including states, competing to extract value from the built environment. Analyses of the role of states in urban development therefore need to be revisited. To do this in a way which can support a global perspective in urban studies that is alert to the great diversity of state forms and urban outcomes, we propose starting not from assumed globalizing processes such as neoliberalization or financialization, in which urban politics is then brought in as ‘context’, or as ‘variegations’ on an overarching and already conceptualized process. Rather, with a comparative imagination in mind, we want to draw attention to the diversity of the politics of the extraction of value from developments, as a starting point for expanding our understanding of the role of states in urban development. The case of a large-scale urban development in London—Old Oak Park Royal—exposes an idiosyncratic regulatory regime characterized by significant territorial fragmentation and intensifying reliance on highly delimited planning gain incomes to support all the costs of the development, including substantial infrastructure and welfare provision. This regulatory regime has direct implications for the built form, and motivates a sharp formulation of state interests and capacity in relation to value extraction. The complex negotiations between state actors and developer teams lead to a blurring of the roles of these actors in shaping built forms. In such a context, the state may assume roles and perform functions associated with securing ‘public’ benefit. But, partly in their efforts to achieve this, state actors also intensify the function of the developer to generate the resources needed to realize state interests. The case study presented invites a broader review of the role of the state in urban development.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 303-331 |
| Number of pages | 29 |
| Journal | International Journal of Urban and Regional Research |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 18 Nov 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We are very grateful for the support we received from Sharon Hayward from the London Tenants Federation, our partners in the research project), Robin Brown of Just Space, and members of the Grand Union Alliance and Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum. We thank all interviewees and informants, who generously shared their experiences and challenges with us. We also thank the officers of the OPDC and members of the OPDC planning committee and board for their openness about and insight into their work. Any errors or omissions remain our responsibility. Jennifer Robinson also thanks students and fellow tutors on URBNG007, Community Participation in City Strategies, especially Michael Edwards and Richard Lee, and Joe Penny and Myfanwy Taylor—our collaboration and co‐working have been a real pleasure. This research has evolved alongside a number of PhD projects, and the learning process has, in the best of UK academic traditions, been mutual and inspiring. The authors acknowledge funding from the ESRC Urban Transformations Grant (number ES/N006070/1) ‘Governing the future city: a comparative analysis of governance innovations in large scale urban developments in Shanghai, London, Johannesburg’, with Phil Harrison (University of the Witwatersrand) and Fulong Wu (University College London).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Authors. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Urban Research Publications Limited
Keywords
- land value
- large-scale development
- London
- state interest
- urban planning
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Development
- Sociology and Political Science
- Urban Studies