Rebel Cities

1. The Right to the City: A Collective Power to Reshape Urbanization

The freedom to make and remake ourselves and our cities is, I want to argue, one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human rights.

Beyond Individual Access. The right to the city transcends mere access to urban resources; it embodies the collective power to transform and reinvent the urban landscape according to our shared desires and values. This perspective shifts the focus from individual entitlements to collective action, emphasizing the need for democratic control over urbanization processes.

Urbanization as a Class Phenomenon. Cities have historically emerged from the concentration of surplus product, making urbanization inherently a class-based process. Under capitalism, this dynamic persists, with the perpetual pursuit of surplus value driving urban development. Understanding this connection is crucial for challenging the unequal distribution of power and resources in cities.

Democratic Control Over Surplus. The core of the right to the city lies in establishing democratic control over the production and utilization of surplus generated through urbanization. This entails reforming state institutions and ensuring popular participation in decision-making processes, empowering communities to shape their urban environments and prioritize social needs over private profit.

2. Capitalist Crises: Rooted in the Urban Process

Clearly, property market booms and busts are inextricably intertwined with speculative financial flows, and these booms and busts have serious consequences for the macroeconomy in general.

Property Markets and Macroeconomic Instability. Conventional economics often overlooks the crucial role of property markets in sparking broader economic crises. However, history reveals a recurring pattern of property market booms and busts intertwined with speculative financial flows, leading to significant macroeconomic disruptions.

Examples of Property-Led Crises:

• The 1973 global property market crash
• The Japanese asset price bubble of the late 1980s
• The 2008 subprime mortgage crisis in the United States

Marxist Perspective on Urbanization. While bourgeois economics often fails to connect urban developments to macroeconomic disruptions, Marxist critics have also struggled to fully integrate urbanization into the general theory of capital accumulation. This oversight limits our understanding of how urban processes contribute to capitalist crises.

Fictitious Capital and Urbanization. The credit system, particularly mortgage-backed securities, plays a crucial role in fueling urbanization and absorbing surplus capital. However, the creation of "fictitious capital" through these financial instruments can lead to speculative bubbles and ultimately, economic crises when the underlying value of assets fails to materialize.

3. The Urban Commons: A Contested Space for Collective Life

At the heart of the practice of commoning lies the principle that the relation between the social group and that aspect of the environment being treated as a common shall be both collective and non-commodified—off-limits to the logic of market exchange and market valuations.

Beyond Private Property and State Control. The concept of the commons challenges the conventional dichotomy between private property and state control, offering an alternative framework for managing shared resources and spaces. This framework emphasizes collective action, community governance, and non-commodified values.

The Urban as a Site of Commoning. The city is a dynamic space where people from diverse backgrounds interact and create a shared, albeit contested, urban life. This shared life can be understood as an urban commons, encompassing not only physical resources but also cultural practices, knowledge, and social relationships.

The Tragedy of Enclosure. Under capitalism, the urban commons is constantly threatened by enclosure and commodification, as private interests seek to extract profit from shared resources and spaces. This process often leads to the displacement of marginalized communities and the erosion of social cohesion.

4. Monopoly Rent: Capitalizing on Uniqueness in the Urban Landscape

All rent is based on the monopoly power of private owners over certain assets.

The Power of Uniqueness. Monopoly rent arises from the exclusive control over unique and non-replicable assets, allowing owners to extract enhanced income streams. In the urban context, this can manifest in the form of prime real estate locations, cultural landmarks, or distinctive local traditions.

Culture as a Commodity. While cultural products and events possess unique qualities, they are increasingly subject to commodification and market forces. This tension creates a struggle between preserving cultural authenticity and exploiting it for economic gain.

Urban Entrepreneurialism and Monopoly Rents. Urban governance often involves attempts to capture monopoly rents by promoting local cultural developments and traditions. However, this can lead to the commodification of local identity and the displacement of marginalized communities.

5. Reclaiming the City: Anti-Capitalist Struggle in Urban Spaces

Only when politics focuses on the production and reproduction of urban life as the central labor process out of which revolutionary impulses arise will it be possible to mobilize anti-capitalist struggles capable of radically transforming daily life.

The City as a Battleground. The city is not merely a passive site for political struggles but an active arena where class conflicts are fought over the control of urban space and resources. Understanding this dynamic is crucial for developing effective anti-capitalist strategies.

Beyond the Factory Floor. Traditional Marxist perspectives often prioritize workplace struggles, neglecting the importance of urban social movements. However, the exploitation of living labor extends beyond the factory floor, encompassing predatory practices in housing, finance, and consumption.

The Right to the City as a Mobilizing Slogan. The "right to the city" can serve as a powerful rallying cry for anti-capitalist movements, uniting diverse groups around the shared goal of reclaiming democratic control over urban development and challenging the dominance of capital.

6. London 2011: A Reflection of Feral Capitalism

Thatcherism unchained the inherently feral instincts of capitalism (the “animal spirits” of the entrepreneur, apologists coyly named them), and nothing has transpired to curb them since.

Feral Capitalism Unleashed. The London riots of 2011 exposed the raw, unrestrained nature of contemporary capitalism, where predatory practices and mass dispossession have become the norm. This "feral capitalism" is characterized by a disregard for social consequences and a relentless pursuit of profit.

Mimicking Corporate Behavior. The rioters, in their own way, mirrored the behavior of corporate capital, engaging in acts of looting and destruction that reflected the systemic exploitation and inequality prevalent in society. This highlights the need to address the root causes of social unrest and challenge the underlying logic of capitalism.

A Call for Accountability. The London riots should serve as a wake-up call, prompting a broader examination of the ethical and moral implications of contemporary capitalism. It is time to hold not only the rioters but also the architects of "feral capitalism" accountable for their actions.

7. #OWS: Challenging the Party of Wall Street

We are the 99 percent.

Confronting Money Power. The Occupy Wall Street movement represents a direct challenge to the dominance of money power in American politics. By occupying public spaces and raising awareness about economic inequality, the movement seeks to reclaim democracy from the grip of the financial elite.

Building a Broad Coalition. To succeed, the Occupy movement must reach out to diverse groups, including students, immigrants, the unemployed, and all those affected by the policies of the Party of Wall Street. This requires building a broad coalition based on shared values of social justice, equality, and environmental sustainability.

Reconstructing the System. The ultimate goal of the Occupy movement is to create a more just and equitable society by challenging the capitalist laws of value and promoting alternative forms of economic organization. This entails democratizing control over production, distribution, and consumption, and prioritizing human needs over private profit.

Last updated: February 22, 2025