Perspectives in Metropolitan Research 5: New Urban Professions – A Journey through Practice and Theory

Collective
Self-Organization
and the Making of
the Urban:
A Self-Empowering
Practice of
Subversive Potential
Melanie Giza
Nowadays we face a capitalism that is unleashed by neoliberal
politics and tends to push capitalistic exploitation of cities over
the edge. Cities seem to have become resources, products, and
means of production all at once. In his book Rebel Cities, David
Harvey states, “[…] the never-ending need to dispose of overaccumulating
capital [is] driving towards endless and sprawling urban
growth no matter what the social, environmental, or political
consequences” (Harvey 2012, p. xvi). Indeed, capitalist logic of exploitation
sets frameworks for urban development. On the basis
of paradigms of urban planning one can see the linkage between
capitalist accumulation, absorption, and the making of the urban,
such as functional separation and the rise of the suburbs in Fordism,
which we intriguingly call an economic miracle. Those who
consider themselves experts in urban development, especially in
the era of neoliberalism, need to reflect on the powerful impact of
1.5.3
PHENOMENA: Practitioners & Practices, Reflections & Reflexes
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