Performing real estate value(s): real estate developers, systems of expertise and the production of space

Robin, Enora

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.05.006

Cited by 48 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Many rankings also include one or more indicators based on citizen perceptions. This ‘perceptual’ approach, now widespread in recent generations of city benchmarks, underpins and underscores an important element which is influencing the direction of urban development internationally: the role that internationally mobile ‘experts’ (Robin, 2018) and ‘global’ urbanists (Bok, 2018) are playing in shaping cities’ needs to be better appreciated and engaged with. Given the clout the views of these ‘experts’ can have—not just on the rankings themselves but on those who use them in cities the world over (as much as within major built environment companies)—we are reminded of the extent to which the contemporary comparative imagination is (and can be) swayed by the influential opinion of those who are considered to speak legitimately about the present and desirable futures of cities.…”

Section: A Complex and Changing Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

TAKING CITY RANKINGS SERIOUSLY : Engaging with Benchmarking Practices in Global Urbanism

Acuto¹,

Pejic²,

Briggs³

2021

Int. J. Urban Reg. Res.

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Who cares if our case study city has dropped a place in the so‐and‐so list of such‐and‐such cities? Whilst city rankings are soaring to popularity in media reports and everyday practitioner parlance in municipalities and the consulting world, benchmarking exercises raise more than a few eyebrows within the field of urban studies. As we argue here, whilst not condoning the superficiality of some of these indices, this is an important problem that needs rebalancing. The ‘comparative imagination’ is today not just a renewed locus of urban theory debate, but an economy in its own right at the heart of networked forms of global urbanism, both in the public and private sectors. Reviewing the global landscape of rankings, the rise of a benchmarking industry and the questions that it raises for urban theorizing, our intervention asks urban studies to take rankings seriously. We argue that they have a key place in the changing imaginary of ‘comparative gestures’ and in shaping a more ‘global’ way of worlding by cities. We advocate theorizing ‘back’ to rankings and, building on debates on ‘urban science’, we call for more proactive participation in influencing the political economy of benchmarking.

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Section: A Complex and Changing Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

TAKING CITY RANKINGS SERIOUSLY : Engaging with Benchmarking Practices in Global Urbanism

Acuto¹,

Pejic²,

Briggs³

2021

Int. J. Urban Reg. Res.

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“…The traditional economic approach -discussed in Encinas, Aguirre and Truffello (2019) -establishes a balance between use and investment associated with the general decisions behind buying and selling dwelling units, but disregards two fundamental aspects: the generation of urban space and the high level of debt among housing buyers. However, a second approach has studied this process from the point of view of use and change values (Robin 2018, Boano and Astolfo 2015, Abramo 2006, establishing concepts typical of urban economy and, especially, the effect of speculation as a derivative of exchange value.…”

Section: Use Value and Exchange Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

Especulación, renta de suelo y ciudad neoliberal. O por qué con el libre mercado no basta

et al. 2019

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“…This research agenda is particularly pertinent given the growing role of the private sector in dictating urban development processes. This includes, for example, the vast number of consultants employed in developments, especially large scale ones like King's Cross (Raco et al, 2016;Robin, 2018), and the hiring of international consultancies (Brill, 2018) who facilitate the globalisation of design and architectural practices (Andersen and Røe, 2017). Whilst the lessons on localisation and the importance of contextualising ideas when they arrive in a new location are highly important, research currently focuses on the actors moving the ideas, often at the expense of engaging with how the idea itself reflects a specific politics, cultural practice or the path-dependency of urban processes from the site of leaving, and when arriving (Peck, 2011).…”

Section: Policy Mobility Research: Bringing Forward the Economic Geogmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding project mobility: The movement of King’s Cross to Brussels and Johannesburg

Brill

Conte

2019

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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This paper builds on policy mobility research to question how loosely deployed references to specific models or sites reveal how tacit and explicit knowledge are required to effectively replicate urban ideas in new places. Departing from existing analysis of policies and the public sector, we use policy mobility framing to critically engage with the strategies of the private sector. We analyse King’s Cross’ arrival in two large-scale redevelopments: Brussels’ Tour and Taxis and Johannesburg’s Modderfontein, questioning how it was referred to, the success of its deployment and the politics of urban learning. We draw three main conclusions: first, the comparison demonstrates private sector agency in their ability to shape the way expert knowledge arrives. Second, we argue that private sector actors require locally embedded practices and tacit knowledge to leverage international points of reference in their projects. Third, in placing the analytical gaze from the perspective of the project ‘arriving’ and adopting a specifically comparative approach, we reveal the myriad of possibilities developers and consultants face and the politics of what they pick from each. Theoretically, these conclusions draw from economic geography’s politics of learning and mobility research to demonstrate the benefit of analysis that traces a project, rather an idea or a policy, and from ‘arriving at’ and the subsequent assembling of different project components.

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Performing real estate value(s): real estate developers, systems of expertise and the production of space

Cited by 48 publications

References 66 publications

TAKING CITY RANKINGS SERIOUSLY : Engaging with Benchmarking Practices in Global Urbanism

TAKING CITY RANKINGS SERIOUSLY : Engaging with Benchmarking Practices in Global Urbanism

Especulación, renta de suelo y ciudad neoliberal. O por qué con el libre mercado no basta

Understanding project mobility: The movement of King’s Cross to Brussels and Johannesburg

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