Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place

摘要

Urban Fortunes, now a classic book, has been reissued in a 20th Anniversary edition. What makes it a classic is a simple idea (often the best kind) that, counter to neoclassical modeling, development in cities is not largely the result of the workings of market forces. Instead, development takes place by the forces of a growth machine driven by entrepreneurial elites, whose aim is to make a profit. The idea of the urban growth machine was rooted in boosterism going back to the "frontier" era, after the indigenous Native Americans had been disposed of their lands and put on reservations. Land speculation and boosterism were planted on top of the emphasis in American history on property and efforts to try continually to increase its value.