“This superbly
succinct and incisive book couldn’t be more timely or urgent.”
—Michael Sorkin,
author of All Over the Map
Our cities are
changing. Around the world, more and more money is being invested in
buildings and land. Real estate is now a $217 trillion dollar
industry, worth thirty-six times the value of all the gold ever
mined. It forms sixty percent of global assets, and one of the most
powerful people in the world—the president of the United
States—made his name as a landlord and developer.
Samuel Stein shows
that this explosive transformation of urban life and politics has
been driven not only by the tastes of wealthy newcomers, but by the
state-driven process of urban planning. Planning agencies provide a
unique window into the ways the state uses and is used by capital,
and the means by which urban renovations are translated into rising
real estate values and rising rents.
Capital City
explains the role of planners in the real estate state, as well as
the remarkable power of planning to reclaim urban life.