Class Conflict and Spatial Domination in the Neoliberal City

What is it about?

Contemporary city planning is increasingly governed by a market logic, where public and private agents work together to produce spaces that privilege the tastes, lifestyles, and sensibilities of the middle classes. Such a logic informs the transformation of several urban spaces, such as gentrifying neighbourhoods, historical city centres, traditional farmers markets, business districts, and waterfronts. This article shows how dominant agents engage in dynamics of “spatial domination” to produce such spaces. Drawing from the study of a planned neighbourhood in Brazil, the paper uncovers the complexities of “spatial domination”, through which dominant agents improve the status, experience, and market value of these spaces for target middle-class consumers while disenfranchising the poor. Ultimately, the study demonstrates how these dynamics reinforce historical patterns of inequality and social exclusion at the local level.

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Photo by Point3D Commercial Imaging Ltd. on Unsplash

Photo by Point3D Commercial Imaging Ltd. on Unsplash