Form Follows Function: On the Interaction between Real Estate Finance and Urban Spatial Structure

Bieri, David (2012): Form Follows Function: On the Interaction between Real Estate Finance and Urban Spatial Structure. Published in: CriticalProductive , Vol. 2, No. 1 (February 2013): pp. 7-16.

Abstract

The fundamental connection between the spatial development of cities and financial markets is a topic that has received little attention from either urbanists or economists. In this short piece, I argue that part of the post-crisis recovery is predicated on a multi-faceted understanding of the subtle causal linkages between financial flows and urban morphologies. Following a historical contextualization of my main argument, I speculate about the key channels through which the dialectical relationship between capital, its regimes of accumulation and its unequal spatial distribution affect the urban fabric. I identify two separate economic processes and historical developments that have co-defined the nexus of real estate finance and urban systems. First, the process of financial globalization and deregulation has been instrumental to the financialization of real estate, and, second, post-Fordist forces of organizational fragmentation have altered the formational principles of core aspects of real estate development processes, including the role of architecture.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Real estate finance, financial markets, urban morphologies, financialization
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B0 - General; G - Financial Economics > G1 - General Financial Markets; G - Financial Economics > G2 - Financial Institutions and Services; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R3 - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location

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