Urban Planning, Local Democracy and Globalisation: The Experience in Three World Cities

Abstract

The article analyzes the impact of economic globalization on urban planning. It demonstrates how cities find themselves internalizing a specific vision of globalization, responding with actions of city marketing. The attraction of external investment emerges as one of the great priorities of urban planning. This vision is developed by new urban elites, designated here as global growth coalitions, where the business sector is a strong interventor, resulting in an emphasis on imaging projects, spectacular, and directing resources in that direction, leaving aside local communities and promoting the increase of social polarization. Specific institutional developments in this sense result in a loss of local democratic dynamics. These cases are analyzed in detail for the cases of London, Singapore and Sydney.