Gated communities were once confined to specific neighborhoods or suburban areas, but as the global financial sector grows, entire cities are becoming gated enclaves where the 'one per cent' network and drive national policies, says Simon Kuper.
With the help of sociologist Saskia Sassen, Kuper traces the transformation of great global cities such as London, Paris, and New York from destitution four decades ago to their unprecedented desirability. "[F]rom the 1980s, these cities recovered. An increasingly complex financial sector needed more sophisticated networks of lawyers and accountants. Corporate mergers and takeovers meant global headquarters got concentrated in fewer places. Crime declined, making cities less scary. And so great cities grew richer. Fancy architects put up lovely buildings. House prices rose."
"First, the working classes and bohemians were priced out," he notes. "That was gentrification. Now comes plutocratisation: the middle classes and small companies are falling victim to class-cleansing. Global cities are becoming patrician ghettos."
"Global cities are turning into vast gated communities where the one per cent reproduces itself," argues Kuper. "Elite members don’t live there for their jobs. They work virtually anyway. Rather, global cities are where they network with each other, and put their kids through their country’s best schools."
Read the full story: Priced out of Paris
Friday Funny: Gated Community Doubles Down
The Onion skewers suburbia.
Neighbors Oppose Transit-Adjacent Gated Development
Phoenix housing advocates are pushing back against a developer's plan to build a gated, luxury townhome community—complete with private garages—in an area designated for higher density.
American Suburbia Transplanted to Beijing
Chinese and Indian cities have been quick to welcome housing developments modeled on North American suburbs, including "Orange County" and "Vancouver Forest" in Beijing. This globalized sprawl perpetuates all the ills of our own.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
Transportation analysts are optimistic that Raman will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority