Property relations and the politics of the suburban living place in the post-communist city : transition stories from Tirana, Albania

Mele, Marcela; Jonas, Andrew E.G.

Abstract

One well-known feature of capitalist forms of urban development in North America and Western Europe is the emergence of a politics of the suburban living place, the spatial appearance of which seems to be separate from class and political tensions arising in urban society at large (Cox 2002). Recognised features of such a politics include efforts by homeowners to secure use values in the living place and thereby enhance exchange values (Logan and Molotch 1987), exclusionary political practices originating in the neighbourhood or suburb (Cox and Johnston 1982), and demands for local improvements in education and other public services; demands which might eventually lead to the creation of separate local jurisdictions in the suburbs (Cox and Jonas 1993). It might be expected that suburban areas in post-socialist states undergoing a transition to capitalist property relations likewise experience all sorts of tensions around the living place, which in turn give rise to claims for territorially separate structures of suburban government or governance.

Citation

Mele, M., & Jonas, A. E. (2020). Property relations and the politics of the suburban living place in the post-communist city : transition stories from Tirana, Albania. In L. B. Drummond, & D. Young (Eds.), Socialist and post-socialist urbanisms : critical reflections from a global perspective (227-245). University of Toronto Press

• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Deposit Date: Nov 25, 2016
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 227-245
• Book Title: Socialist and post-socialist urbanisms : critical reflections from a global perspective
• Chapter Number: 11
• ISBN: 9781442632837; 9781442632530
• Keywords: Property relations; Post-communist cities
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/445764
• Contract Date: Nov 25, 2016