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Research Seminar – Cities and the Superrich
20 April, 2016 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Research Seminar
Topic:
Cities and the Superrich
Speaker:
Prof. Ray Forrest
Head, Department of Public Policy
Chair Professor of Housing and Urban Studies, City University of Hong Kong
Emeritus Professor of Urban Studies, University of Bristol
Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences
Schedule:
Wednesday, 20 April 2016 (13:00-14:00)
Room 829, Knowles Building
The University of Hong Kong
Abstract:
Cities, and particularly the leading world cities, are the sites where extreme inequalities find their most visible contemporary expression. They are, it seems, both the playgrounds and projects of a new overclass of superrich. This talk will explore some of the key conceptual issues around these assumptions. How do we construct this category of ‘superrich’? Where do we find them? What do they want? Where do cities and urban development fit into the picture? Why now and is all this so novel?
In addressing these questions it will be suggested that we need to transcend accusatory and moralistic positions and develop a more nuanced and structural understanding of super-richness. This involves inter alia acknowledging the role of governments and intermediaries in super-rich accumulation and exploring differences in the composition and role of elites in specific urban political economies and real estate markets.
For a fuller analysis see:
Ray Forrest, Sin Yee Koh and Bart Wissink (Eds.) (forthcoming, 2016) Cities and the Super-Rich: Real Estate, Elite Practices and Urban Political Economies, London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan
About the Speaker:
Ray Forrest is Head of the Department of Public Policy and Chair Professor of Housing and Urban Studies at the City University of Hong Kong. He is also Emeritus Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Bristol and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences. He is currently involved in research on urbanism in contemporary China; the neighbourhood and new mobilities; housing wealth, financialisation and social restratification. A Public Policy Research project on residential mobility, social mobility and assisted home ownership in Hong Kong is also underway.
~~ ALL INTERESTED ARE WELCOME ~~
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