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The Suburb as a Space of Capital Accumulation: The Development of New Towns in Shanghai, China
Author(s) -
Shen Jie,
Wu Fulong
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
antipode
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.177
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1467-8330
pISSN - 0066-4812
DOI - 10.1111/anti.12302
Subject(s) - suburbanization , china , metropolitan area , frontier , capital (architecture) , leverage (statistics) , economic geography , capital accumulation , investment (military) , economic growth , private capital , business , economics , economic system , foreign direct investment , geography , human capital , political science , archaeology , machine learning , politics , computer science , law , macroeconomics
Drawing attention to the governing role of capital accumulation and its interaction with the state, this study examines the dynamics of the new wave of suburbanization in China, which is characterized by the development of new towns. New towns essentially function as a spatial fix in China's contemporary accumulation regime. Rather than resulting from capital switching from the primary to the secondary circuits, new towns help to collect funds for the leverage of industrial capital and thus simultaneously sustain both circuits. Meanwhile, the development of new towns is also a process of territorial development, in which municipal governments expand the space of accumulation under strengthened fiscal and land controls and develop a metropolitan structure. Underlying the specific form and dynamics, however, is the worldwide trend of capital switching from declining manufacturing industries in developed countries to the new investment frontier in developing countries.