28 January 20222pm-4.30pm, EPS105
Reading and research workshop - "Governing the city

Seminar common to axes 4 and 6 of MESOPOLHIS - Governing the city. Spatialised social groups, local institutions & urban policies
Session coordination and moderation : Claire Bénit-Gbaffou & Cesare Mattina
[Presentation, purpose of this series of workshops, reminder and reports of previous sessions and calendar sessions by clicking  here]

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We continue our reflections on 'Governing the city' based on classic American texts and on the debate between elitist and polyarchical theories of power in the city, with extracts from a landmark book: Urban Fortunes, The political economy of place (1987) by John Logan and Harvey Molotch. The book adopts a historical and comparative approach, drawing on the many monographs developed within community power studies. In a departure from the Chicago School and the Marxist interpretation of the city, the two authors take the production of urban space seriously, showing the tension between use value and exchange value and the illusory nature of a land 'market' that exists independently of public action. 
In line with elitist theories of urban government, they theorise the city as a 'growth machine', where local notables, political elites and a flourishing of businesses rooted in the area join forces to stimulate growth, which the authors show is not always a panacea, either for city dwellers or for local finances. They analyse two aspects in particular: the hegemonic construction of this growth ideology, which they point out is not always a good thing for city users; and its historical development, as globalisation leads to increased mobility of capital and a growing gap between local rentiers and international business circles.

We have chosen three extracts from their work Urban Fortunes, The political economy of place (1987 edition, University of California Press):