Financial-real estate capital and the production of the Latin American city today

Abstract

Among the changes generated by the transition of the accumulation pattern with state intervention to the neoliberal pattern in Latin America, we highlight the consolidation of financial capital as a dominant economic player, the release of its international flows, and the progress of its merger with real estate capital in the cities. This form of capital has generated new material products such as peripheral social interest housing and/or real estate developments for the renovation of highly valued central areas, commodification and tertiarization of urban life, while speculative and risky financial instruments multiply. The financial-real estate capital’s prominence has led to the weakening of indicative urban planning, replaced by a “strategy”, and local governments apply policies to facilitate its action.