ancient cities

332 Growth Machine
Urban Fortunes), the geographical constraints of
growth are value laden; that is, the matter is about
how exchange values can be used to achieve a new
and improved set of use values, as it occurs in gentrificative
processes. Typically, gentrification (regardless
of whether it is triggered by supply or demand)
represents the replacement of old-use values by the
exchange values established by growth coalitions,
which market displacement of the poor as positive
and necessary to overcome concentrated poverty
and other social problems.
Another set of criticisms suggests that changes
in state policies relative to the private sector render
the effective use of the growth machine concept
problematic. As the private sector gained importance
in the management and governing of society,
the state semiabandoned some of its traditional
responsibilities in health care, education, and welfare.
Whether the cause is the changing character
of state policies or neoliberalism’s latest turn, the
result is that the private sector has become almost
intertwined with local state forces, agencies, and
actors in the entrepreneurial city. Thus, rather
than speaking of growth machines, it is more
appropriate to refer to local/regional states in the
case of American cities.
Growth Machine and Global Forces
Contemporary uses of the growth machine concept
are increasingly embedded in the variable
geometry and specific trajectories or pathways of
global forces’ urban impact and the mediation of
developmental states. According to one author,
these pathways consist of (1) economic and political
strategies developed at the regional level to
establish flows and transnational connections with
the world economy (such as state-led export-
oriented growth strategies), (2) local developments
to cope with changes triggered at the global level
(such as industrial restructuring), and (3) structural
and territorial adjustments to position the
city in the context of world cities (such as megaproject
development).
Pro-growth coalitions usually identify with the
aims of developmental states, especially (although
not only) in emerging economies. Local growth
machines may be presented as seeking national or
regional competitiveness globally, in a comparative
framework that provides local elites and actors
with external models to emulate. This context
intensifies, although it does not essentially modify,
the thrust and aims of state policies because growth
and productivity were national priorities for many
countries and regions even before the current
global era. In fact, local growth machines and
commercial–state alliances seeking the retention of
local commercial privileges are visible in many
European regions during the shaping of modern
capitalism in the sixteenth century. In some cases,
the focus on growth and development had a reflection
in the local legal code.
Late industrializers seem to require a strong
state that prioritizes growth to overcome the drawbacks
of comparative disadvantage. In this context,
the role of local growth machines may be
viewed as addressing (and benefiting from) state
priorities concerning industrialization and development;
the matter of effectiveness typically
replaces debates of state intervention in the economy.
The common goal of both the state and progrowth
coalitions is that of maximizing gains from
global trade and export-led development, as well
as strategically deploying the local reserves of
capital, information, and labor.
Global market efficiency and economic advantage
may not be the only strategic goal pursued
by aligned state and pro-growth actors in nations,
cities, and regions. Expanding the local economic
reach may also be related to gaining global visibility
to better preserve local political autonomy
and identity. Such preservation strategies about
autonomy and identity are carried out by local
elites in reterritorialized national states and local/
regional governments. Together with the expansion
of foreign direct-investment flows, the corporate
goals of foreign trade and investment
become a policy priority for regional governments
in multinational states with the aim of
increasing the ability to maneuver politically vis-ávis
nation-states. This process may have a direct
influence in the particular articulation of the local
growth machine.
Gerardo del Cerro Santamarí a
See also Growth Management; Urban Politics; Urban
Sociology; Urban Theory