http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3958-2119
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ABSTRACT
Locating the global financial crisis: variegated neoliberalization in four European cities. Territory, Politics, Governance. This paper looks at the variegated impact of the 2008 global financial crisis and the different ways in which local strategic actors imagined and responded to it through a comparative study of Barcelona, Brussels, Leeds and Turin. Drawing on cultural political economy, we see crisis moments as fertile territory for the analysis of variegation in urban neoliberalization processes as they can break path dependencies and open up alternatives. Inspired by the comparative turn in critical urban studies, our case studies are not offered as representative samples but as dense sites to explore the various interpretations and uses of the crisis, particularly at the elite level. This analysis suggests considerable variegation in how the crisis was both felt and interpreted locally across the four cities. The local elites did not regard this as a crisis of or in their own urban growth models, but as something external. However, as the global financial crisis morphed into national sovereign debt crises and austerity programmes, the experience in each city has been relatively similar. The paper concludes by emphasizing the continuity function of specific local actors through the processes of meaning-making in which they engage, something that existing work on variegated neoliberalization has so far overlooked.
摘要
定位全球金融危机：四个欧盟城市中多样的新自由主义化。Territory, Politics, Governance. 本文透过巴塞罗那、布鲁塞尔、里兹与都灵的比较研究，检视2008年全球金融危机的多样化冲击，以及地方策略行动者想像并回应该危机的方式。我们运用文化政治经济学，将危机时刻视为分析城市新自由主义化的多样过程的丰沃土壤，因其能够打破路径依赖，并开啓其他可能。受到批判城市研究的比较研究转向所啓发，我们的案例研究并非作为代表性的样本，而是探讨危机的各种诠释与使用的密集场域，特别是在精英层级之中。本分析主张，四个城市感知与诠释危机的方式具有相当大的差异。地方精英并不将危机视为自身城市成长模型的本质，抑或是该模型中的危机，而是将之视为外来之物。但当全球金融危机转变为国家主权债务危机和紧缩政策后，每个城市则有了相对接近的经验。本文于结论中强调特定地方行动者透过在他们参与的城市中创造意义的过程而持续作用，而这是既有的多样化新自由主义化之文献至今所忽略的
RÉSUMÉ
Localisation de la crise financière mondiale: néo-libéralisation diversifiée dans quatre villes d’Europe. Territory, Politics, Governance. La présente communication se penche sur l’impact diversifié de la crise financière de 2008 et sur les différentes façons dont des acteurs stratégiques locaux divers l’ont imaginée, et sont intervenus en conséquence, par le biais d’une étude comparée portant sur Barcelone, Bruxelles, Leeds et Turin. En nous inspirant d’une économie politique culturelle, nous considérons les moments de crise comme un terrain fertile pour l’analyse de la diversification des procédés de néo-libéralisation urbaine susceptibles d’enrayer les «path dependencies» et d’ouvrir la voie vers des alternatives. S’inspirant d’une “comparative turn” dans les études urbaines critiques, nos études de cas ne sont pas proposées comme des échantillons représentatifs, bien plutôt comme des sites denses permettant d’explorer les différentes interprétations et applications de la crise, notamment à l’échelon des élites. Cette analyse avance une diversification considérable dans la façon dont la crise a été ressentie et interprétée à l’échelon local, dans ces quatre villes. Les élites locales ne la considérèrent pas comme une crise de ou dans leurs propres modèles d’expansion urbaine, mais plutôt comme un phénomène externe. Toutefois, avec la transformation de la crise financière globale en crises de la dette souveraine et de programmes d’austérité, l’expérience relevée dans chacune des villes a été relativement similaire. La communication conclut en soulignant la fonction de continuité d’acteurs locaux spécifiques par le biais des processus de création de signification dans lesquels ils s’engagent, un aspect jusqu’à présent ignoré dans les travaux existants sur la libéralisation diversifiée.
RESUMEN
Localizando la financiera mundial: neoliberalización variada en cuatro ciudades europeas. Territory, Politics, Governance. A partir de un estudio llevado a cabo en Barcelona, Bruselas, Leeds y Turín, en este artículo analizamos el impacto variado de la crisis financiera internacional de 2008 y las diferentes formas en las que los actores estratégicos locales imaginaron y respondieron a ella. Basándonos en la aproximación de la Economía Política Cultural, vemos los momentos de crisis como un territorio fértil para el análisis de la variación en los procesos de neoliberalización urbana dado que pueden romper con trayectorias establecidas y abrir alternativas. Inspirados por el giro comparativo en los estudios urbanos críticos, nuestros casos de estudio no constituyen muestras representativas sino lugares densos para explorar las diferentes interpretaciones y usos de la crisis, sobre todo a nivel de las élites. Este análisis muestra una variación considerable en cómo se sintió e interpretó la crisis localmente en las cuatro ciudades. Las élites locales no la consideraron como una crisis de sus propios modelos de crecimiento urbano, sino como algo externo. Sin embargo, cuando la crisis financiera internacional se transformó en una crisis nacional de deudas soberanas y programas de austeridad, la experiencia en cada una de las ciudades ha sido relativamente similar. Concluimos este artículo poniendo de relieve la función de continuidad que desempeñan algunos actores de ámbito local y su papel en la construcción de significados, algo que se ha ignorado hasta ahora en el trabajo actual sobre la neoliberalización variada.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to the support provided throughout the project by Prof Martin Jones who acted as our senior mentor and the anonymous referees. We also acknowledge the fantastic logistical support by Calum Carson from the University of Leeds.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Sara González http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3958-2119
Notes
1 In fact, the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) met in Barcelona in March 2009. The gathering of local economic leaders from across the world proclaimed Barcelona as a post-crisis model; indeed, the gathering agreed on the so-called Barcelona Principles, as solutions to the crisis in cities (Oosterlynck & Gonzalez, Citation2013).
2 PEMB was founded by Barcelona City Council and Metropolitan Authority, Airport, Port Free Trade Zone and Fair Authorities, chamber of commerce, Fomento (business association), two unions and Círculo de Economia (elite's association). In its Council Board, 300 persons and institutions from universities, business associations to cultural ones or the Archbishop of Barcelona are represented. Pacte industrial gathers together 51 city councils, regional, provincial and metropolitan authorities, 11 business associations, 2 unions and 22 economic and cultural institutions.
3 Though with different normative emphasis, this was confirmed by interviews with the Head of Mayor's Cabinet, the president of the Federation of Neigborhood Associations and Abel Albet academic at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (see also March & Ribera-Fumaz, Citation2016).
4 Indeed, during the nationalist right-wing mayor period (2011–2015), there was only one document staging the role of Barcelona within an independent Catalonia (Barcelona City Council, Citation2014). The book, a rather odd compilation of short texts by prominent Barcelona figures, was prepared in a short period of time (three months), and right after the presentation in November 2014, it disappeared from public debates about the city.
5 This is confirmed by a quick scan of the main Dutch newspaper (weekly published) for Brussels, where the search term ‘economische crisis’ only delivers 14 relevant articles between 2007 and 2015 (see www.bruzz.be).
6 A search in the electronic database with reports of the debates in the BCR parliament between 2008 and 2012 using the term ‘crisis’ only led to the identification of nine sessions where one or more questions on the impact of the financial-economic crisis on Brussels were asked (see http://www.weblex.irisnet.be/bhr/questframe.asp).
7 This asylum seekers crisis refers to the upsurge in requests for support in the public welfare centre of the municipality of Brussels, due to the failure of the responsible federal agency Fedasil to provide shelter for new refugees.
8 In 2008, GH held 17% of the shares in Dexia (Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Integraal verslag, Commissie voor de Financiën, zitting 24 Oktober 2011.
9 Calculated on the basis of the data provided by Observatorium voor Gezondheid en Welzijn Brussel-Hoofdstad (see www.observatbru.be/documents/indicateurs/pauvrete/04_nl_gemiddeld-en-mediaan-netto-belastbaar-inkomen-in-per-jaar-brussels-gewest-en-gemeenten.xls+&cd=10&hl=fr&ct=clnk&gl=be; last accessed on 19 December 2016).