Architecture Commons^™

Form Follows Function: On The Interaction Between Real Estate Finance And Urban Spatial Structure, David S. Bieri

David S Bieri

The fundamental connection between the spatial development of cities and financial markets is a topic that has received little attention from either urbanists or economists. In this short piece, I argue that part of the post-crisis recovery is predicated on a multi-faceted understanding of the subtle causal linkages between financial flows and urban morphologies. Following a historical contextualization of my main argument, I speculate about the key channels through which the dialectical relationship between capital, its regimes of accumulation and its unequal spatial distribution affect the urban fabric. I identify two separate economic processes and historical developments that have co-defined …