Capitalist urbanization in the post-neoliberal and de-globalizing world economy: A minor critical engagement with VIP-Urbanism literature

The special issue “Contesting VIP Urbanism” includes timely analytical interventions to contest an increasing tendency to luxury investments in many capitalist cities of the past decades. This essay raises some theoretical and empirical questions concerning the present state of globalization and neoliberalism as two defining characteristics of an era of the global capitalist economy in which both the tendency toward VIP-Urbanism and the approaches criticizing it arise. It aims to extend the discussion on contesting the tendency toward VIP-Urbanism by drawing attention to questions regarding the role of macroeconomic structural forces that enable or hinder urban governance. In response to the changing historical context, the essay proposes developing a multi-scalar and inter-sectoral framework, which also includes reintroducing the national level into urban geographic inquiry to contextualize micro dynamics of investments over individual land plots by individual investors.