Cities for Profit - by Gavin Shatkin (Hardcover)

About the Book

Cities for Profit examines the phenomenon of urban real estate megaprojects in Asia--massive, privately built planned urban developments that have captured the imagination of politicians, policymakers, and citizens across the region. These controversial projects, embraced by elites, occasion massive displacement and have extensive social and...

Book Synopsis

Cities for Profit examines the phenomenon of urban real estate megaprojects in Asia--massive, privately built planned urban developments that have captured the imagination of politicians, policymakers, and citizens across the region. These controversial projects, embraced by elites, occasion massive displacement and have extensive social and economic impacts. Gavin Shatkin finds commonalities and similarities in dozens of such projects in Jakarta, Kolkata, and Chongqing.

Shatkin is at the vanguard of urban studies in his focus on real estate. Just as cities are increasingly defined and remapped according to the value of the land under their residents' feet, the lives of city dwellers are shaped and constrained by their ability to keep up with rising costs of urban life. Scholars and policy and planning professionals alike will benefit from Shatkin's comprehensive research. Cities for Profit contains insights from more than 150 interviews, site visits to projects, and data from government and nongovernmental organization reports and data, urban plans, architectural renderings, annual reports and promotional materials of developers, and newspaper and other media accounts.

Review Quotes

Cities for Profit is theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich. It provides a comparative lens focusing on the role of the state in Asia's real estate turn. It is an ideal and useful text for graduate-level courses on comparative urbanism, urban politics, international planning, land development, and the state-society relationship. For researchers who are drawn to the merits of comparative urban studies, this book is invaluable.

-- "Journal of Urban Affairs"

Cities for Profit provides a significant perspective on the current strategies being enacted across urban Asia by political actors. Beyond the specific megaprojects described in the case studies, readers will gain valuable information about the present state of land reforms and urban processes in these countries. Shatkin's careful analysis proves that the local manifestation of neoliberalizing forces is highly varied because of the historically and spatially contingent conditions shaping urban politics. In addition, the role of infrastructure as a significant component for urban megaproject development recurs throughout the book and is a subject that could be developed in further research. In conclusion, Cities for Profit deserves to be read by all researchers interested in the dynamics of contemporary Asian urbanism and the spatial forms that accompany new state strategies.

-- "International Journal of Urban and Regional research"

Scholars, policy makers, and urban planners could benefit from this excellent, comprehensive research. The reading is essential to students and scholars of urban theory and policy, urban studies in Asia, and Asian political economy in general.

-- "Choice"

Shatkin's...in-depth analysis of the cases reveals agents maneuvering through, within, and around complex processes and structures; comparison of the cases permits discovery of patterns of similarity and difference. Following Jennifer Robinson, he also moves us beyond the macroforces of global integration and neoliberalism to give equal consideration to the microdynamics of place.

-- "American Journal of Sociology"

About the Author

Gavin Shatkin is Associate Professor of Architecture at Northeastern University.