The Political Economy Of Urban Land Use: Towards a Revised Theoretical Framework

Abstract

Abstract The paper provides a summary and extension of the neo-Ricardian approach to urban land use in capitalist societies. After linking neo-Ricardian land use and rent models to Marxist theory on conflict over the urban reproduc;tive sphere under capitalism, the paper arrives at the notion that a ‘motor’ is required to power the process of land use and land rent transformations through history. Thus, the paper finally develops a model of how the historical unfolding of the political class struggle lies at the centre of changing patterns of land use and land rent. It also theorizes the role of the state in the processes described.