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- Convenors:
-
Seth Schindler
(University of Manchester)
Nicola Banks (University of Manchester)
Tom Gillespie (University of Manchester)
- Stream:
- K: Uneven urban and sub-national development
- Location:
- G1
- Start time:
- 27 June, 2018 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
This panel focuses on the drivers of deindustrialisation in cities in the global South, and its impacts at the urban scale on labourers, work and the built environment. Taken together, the papers will highlight emergent patterns of uneven development, inequality and income (re)distribution.
Long Abstract:
There is a growing consensus among economists that the pace and scope of deindustrialisation in developing countries is more rapid and intense than it ever was in OECD countries. Much of this research focuses on macro-economic country-level and sectoral data, and these panels focus on the ways in which deindustrialisation is unfolding at the urban scale. We invite papers that offer an in-depth political-economic analysis of urban development and explain local drivers of deindustrialisation. Alternatively, contributions could take deindustrialisation as a starting point and focus on its impacts on capital, labour and the built environment. These papers could highlight the adaptation strategies of local capital (e.g. investment in retail or real estate) and retrenched labourers and their dependents (e.g. reskilling or a shift to the informal sector). They could also demonstrate how deindustrialisation has impacted value creation/capture within cities, disrupted social structures of accumulation, and resulted in new patterns of income (re)distribution. Finally, deindustrialisation in the OECD is associated with urban decline and abandonment, and papers could examine its impact on the built environment of cities in the Global South. We welcome papers that are attuned to the complexities of time/place and provide in-depth empirical insight into the multi-faceted drivers and impacts of deindustrialisation in particular cities.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Seth Schindler (University of Manchester)
Paper short abstract:
This paper proposes the emergence of a New International Geography of Deindustrialization, and offers a typology to better understand its different manifestations in cities in developing countries.
Paper long abstract:
Recent scholarship has demonstrated that developing countries have experienced rapid deindustrialization. Deindustrialization is associated with urban and regional decline in the OECD, and scholars have focused on its impacts on communities, workers and local industry. However, in the global South it is typically problematized at the national scale and scholars focus on narrow industrial sectors. In this paper I argue that there is an urgent need to attend to the new international geography of deindustrialization, its manifestation in cities in the global South and impacts on people and local SMEs. I begin by reviewing political economy scholarship on deindustrialization from development studies, most of which seeks to quantify it and identify its causes. Most notably, Dani Rodrik argues that deindustrialization in developing countries is 'premature,' because in comparison to deindustrialization in the OECD it has taken place before increases in the productivity of the service sector and wages. I argue that in order to understand why cities are experiencing 'premature deindustrialization,' it must be understood in the context of unbundled and global value chains, but scholars must also account for the impact of deindustrialization within cities. I propose a typology that captures the range of ways in which deindustrialization manifests in Southern cities, and I conclude by proposing an agenda for future research on the new international geography of deindustrialization.
Mustafa Kemal Bayırbağ (Middle East Technical University)
Paper short abstract:
The paper analyzes the relationship between urbanisation and de-industrialisation in the Global South, concentrating on the case of Turkey. It focuses on how the urbanisation strategy of the 2000s facilitated deindustrialisation, as part of a contradictory and implosive development policy.
Paper long abstract:
This paper analyzes the relationship between urbanisation and de-industrialisation in the Global South, concentrating on the case of Turkey. The paper will first argue that a neoliberal development policy based on an agressive urbanisation strategy prepared the spatio-political (and scalar) infrastructure of premature de-industrialisation in Turkey during the 2000s. This development strategy has been contradictory and implosive. Inward-oriented policies of successive JDP (Justice and Development Party) governments sought to meet the dual targets of wealth creation & redistribution, and it has established a particular "urban citizenship regime". The second part of the paper examines how this urban citizenship regime served as a socio-political mechanism that facilitated premature deindustrialisation. Four dimensions of this regime will be discussed with a special emphasis on "politics of (re)distribution", which stands for struggles among different social classes/groups revolving around (re)distribution, and institutionalisation of access to (or exclusion from):
A) Resources exploited to produce material wealth (land, labour and capital) - politics of possession/dispossession;
B) Value/surplus value produced through exploitation of these resources - politics of exploitation;
C) Publicly owned, controlled, and distributed resources/benefits - politics of commons;
D) Sites/centres of decision-making that shape and determine the functioning of the above spheres of (re)distribution and political struggle - politics of representation.
The paper concludes by questioning the limits to this urban citizenship regime, and highlighting the future of Turkish urbanization in the context of premature deindustrialization unfolding in certain cities.
Deusdedit Rwehumbiza (University of Dar es Salaam Business School)
Paper short abstract:
I investigate deindustrialisation in Tanzania by exploring the lasting impacts on Dar es Salaam city following the decline of manufacturing in the 1980s and examining how the recent industrial growth differs from the economic base that had been established by the 1980s, which declined after 1985.
Paper long abstract:
Research on deindustrialisation in Tanzania suffers from two shortcomings. First, it mainly investigates the causes of deindustrialisation meanwhile neglecting its impacts within host cities. Second, Tanzanian industry has grown in recent years, and many scholars take for granted that this industrial growth offsets the impact of post-1986 deindustrialization. This paper seeks to rectify this gap in research by focusing on the lingering impacts of deindustrialisation in Dar es Salaam (a commercial city of Tanzania), which persist in spite of a recent industrial resurgence. I begin by narrating the decline of Tanzanian industry in the 1980s, its evolution in 1990s and re-growth in the 2000s. In this regard, the study undertakes a detailed investigation of two overarching questions: (1) what are the lasting impacts on Dar es Salaam city following the decline of manufacturing in the 1980s? (2) How does recent industrial growth differ from the rather extensive economic base that had been established by the 1980s, which declined after 1985? Research findings demonstrate that the real impacts of deindustrialisation are particularly not felt at the national level but continue to play out at the local scale. Most notably, they are evident in the communities within which retrenched labourers struggle to meet the needs of their daily lives. Furthermore, I explore the physical investments in economic activities that are actually put in place, restructured or closed down. I conclude with a series of policy recommendations that should be taken as lessons by all stakeholders as the nation strives to reindustrialise.
Jesse Souza (Federal university of são paulo (ABC))
Paper short abstract:
The paper aims to address the issue of the constitution of a precarious working class in contemporary Brazil - with a focus on the city of São Paulo - as a result of the ongoing process of deindustrialization.
Paper long abstract:
The paper aims to address the issue of the constitution of a precarious working class in contemporary Brazil - with a focus on the city of São Paulo - as a result of the ongoing process of deindustrialization. There is a growing scholarly consensus that Brazil is experiencing deindustrialization, yet most scholarship has focused on the national political economy. As a result, the impact of deindustrialization in cities has been neglected. In this paper I argue that deindustrialization in Brazil has had two significant consequences. First, after years of decreasing - particularly during Lula's presidency - inequality has once again begun to increase. Second, we are witnessing the emergence of a qualitatively new type of inequality, which is often obscured by the fact that many of the retrenched workers perceive themselves as petty entrepreneurs. This paper has three sections. First, I review contemporary politics in Brazil and I narrate deindustrialization in São Paulo. Second, I show how this has had qualitative and quantitative impacts on inequality. Finally, I show how the changing perception of inequality influences popular movements and their relation to contemporary politics. I conclude by speculating on the lasting influence of deindustrialization on Brazilian society and politics.
Philipa Akuoko (University of Bern)
Paper short abstract:
Informality is growing in the global south as a response to economic crises. The infrastructure development agenda of global south governments and the urban elites in recent times, however, is aimed at removing informality without the necessary provisions.
Paper long abstract:
The increasing quest for modernity among African states has caused several changes in urban centres of African countries. The notion that infrastructure development in the bane of economic growth and development has resulted in the removal of a certain class of people referred to as the informal sector of cities in making way for infrastructure across sub-Saharan Africa. The Kejetia/Central Market Redevelopment Project is one such project.
The paper adopts the case study research approach in exploring the significance of these urban renewal projects to the informal workers in urban centres. Using the purposive and snowballing non-random sampling method, a total of 52 informal workers of the Kejetia/Central market were intensively interviewed together with 4 heads of formal institutions and 5 key informants serving as authority figures on the project construction.
The finding of this paper is that, contrary to the projections by the government and urban elites, the urban renewal projects have very little significance to the economic empowerment and growth of the economic activities of the informal sector.
Neha Sami (Indian Institute for Human Settlements)
Paper short abstract:
In January 2016, the Government of India decided to shut down the watch division of the HMT factory in Bangalore. Through this case this paper will explore how public sector (de-)industrialization in India is changing, and what that means for cities in which these manufacturing units are located
Paper long abstract:
In January 2016, the Government of India decided to shut down the watch division of the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) factory in Bangalore. The factory had been in operation since the 1960s, fondly known as 'the nation's timekeeper'. The decision to shut down the factory followed nearly a decade of losses, but also came with little clarity on why not much had been done since the losses started nearly 30 years ago. Following this decision, the nearly 88-acre plot of land in Bangalore on which the factory, and employee housing stood was put up for sale. With the city's rapid growth, this is now prime property for development. However, a year on, most of the land has been sold to another government entity, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to expand research facilities. This is different from most other publicly owned brownfield sites, such as mill lands, in the rest of the country, which have typically been sold off to private real estate interests to be redeveloped into high-rise housing and retail/commercial spaces, such as the Phoenix Mills redevelopment in Mumbai or the redevelopment of the Binny Mills land in Bangalore. Through the case of the HMT factory in Bangalore, this paper will explore how public sector (de-)industrialization in India is changing, and what that means for cities in which these manufacturing units are located - in terms of how spaces change and evolve, but also what the impact is on local economies and (un-)employment.
Himanshu Burte (Tata Institute of Social Sciences)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores spatial consequences of a deindustrialization process in Mumbai since 1991 jointly driven by policy and market, for different social groups. From a Lefebvrian (1991) perspective, it uses the lenses of occupancy, rhythms and built form to develop a concept of 'engine urbanism'.
Paper long abstract:
Cities have begun to be seen as 'engines of economic growth' in India after the SAP in 1991. Deindustrialization of the city is an important prong of the new urban process in this moment. As a result, a new and contradictory space is being 'produced '(Lefebvre 1991) out of an old industrial city in Mumbai since the early 1990s. It is to be actively transformed into a global centre of financial and IT services (Mahadevia and Narayanan 2008). I explore spatial consequences of a deindustrialization process jointly driven by policy and (land) market, for various classes, using lenses of 'occupancy', 'rhythms' and 'built form' outlining a new 'engine urbanism'. The production of a new space in Mumbai involves the convergence of different initiatives by the state and land market. Since the 1960s Maharashtra state has incentivized industry to move out of Mumbai to backward regions. This process accelerated after a landmark (but unsuccessful) labor strike in 1980s, and the state government's support in the 1990s that allowed millowners to redevelop mill lands into residential and commercial complexes, completely transforming the urban geography of livelihoods permanently. Since 1991 landuse planning has also has spurred a real estate boom. The transformations of the spatial pattern of housing, placemaking, livelihoods (of various classes) have interesting local as well as regional geographies (at street, neighbourhood and metropolitan scale), and demand closer attention for their implications of a new emerging, policy assisted, urbanism in Mumbai.
Gaurav Sikka (RNAR College, L.N. Mithila University )
Paper short abstract:
Since cities are regarded as 'engines of growth', an indicator of development and a major contributor to the national economy; the neoliberal regimes tend to work towards rapid urban transformation and renewal even if it is at the expense of the disempowered and downtrodden.
Paper long abstract:
Since cities are regarded as 'engines of growth', an indicator of development and a major contributor to the national economy; the neoliberal regimes tend to work towards rapid urban transformation and renewal even if it is at the expense of the disempowered and downtrodden. Furthermore, an expanding capital accumulation process accompanied by new technologies and new forms of governance is bringing in new spatial forms putting enormous stress upon the physical and social landscapes of the urban settlements (Harvey, 2003). Accumulation by dispossession is a process which simultaneously concentrates property in a few hands while reducing the access of many to an independent means of livelihood, rendering them dependent on wage work, often at some distance from their original homelands. Also, in these situations the gender dimensions are totally ignored.
One such manifestation of the above process can be seen at the Kathputli colony slum in India's capital Delhi. Here the traditional street artists residing from five decades are being evicted in the name of in-situ slum redevelopment programme aimed at making Delhi a 'slum free' and world class city. The paper analyses the accumulation and exclusion in an Indian metropolis by presenting a case study from Kathputli colony slum in Delhi. The paper also discusses the sanitisation of cities through gentrification and associated displacement and concludes by suggesting some alternatives. The paper is based on the insights and narratives of the affected community.