Smart city, eco city, world city, creative city, et cetera et cetera: a Marxian interpretation of urban discourses’ short lifecycles

Abstract

Concepts like ‘creative city’, ‘world city’ and ‘eco city’ arrive with loud celebration, but fade in just a few years. In recent years, ‘smart city’ has been a buzzword. As each fad emerges, urbanists debate its meaning and implications. However, why so many urban concepts circulate at all is rarely focused on. This study attempts to answer this question based on the Marxian view of the built environment as a fixed capital. We focus on the differences between the built environment and other types of fixed capital, and show how these differences render capital circulation in the built environment sector more fragile. We claim that such fragility cannot be fixed within the circuit of capital, so external intervention is necessary and deployment of catchy urban concepts is a resorted method of such intervention.