Paper short abstract:

Examining peri-urban Myanmar, this paper explores how small-scale land speculation by residents drives displacement and inequality. It highlights the intimate dynamics of land financialization and spatial subdivision, emphasizing residents’ diverse roles in peripheral urbanization.

Paper long abstract:

In many cities worldwide, land has emerged as a premier investment asset, with existing discussion predominantly highlighting the cooperative efforts between states and private developers in land speculation. Such partnerships have significantly pushed up land prices, frequently at the expense of local communities. However, this narrative often ignores small-scale land speculation by urban residents in remote areas. Based on fieldwork in peri-urban Mandalay, Myanmar this paper demonstrates how such competition for land has penetrated even residential areas isolated from government or real estate projects. The sharp increase in land prices on the outskirts has widened inequalities among residents, enabling wealthier residents with connections to the municipality to gain more from the land market. These individuals often purchase land from their poorer neighbors for speculation, compelling the latter to relocate further to self-built, subdivided plots near the city boundaries. This paper examines land speculation from below and demonstrates that insiders including neighbors and brokers drive displacement on the outskirts, making it into an intimate affair. This paper contributes to the discourse on spatial production in global south cities by emphasizing residents’ diverse roles in land financialization and how the reproduction of peripheral urbanization leads to subdivision of space on the outskirts.