David Harvey. From Managerialism To Entrepreneurialism

From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation in Urban Governance in
Late Capitalism
Author(s): David Harvey
Source: Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, Vol. 71, No. 1, The Roots of
Geographical Change: 1973 to the Present (1989), pp. 3-17
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography
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FROM MANAGERIALISM TO
ENTREPRENEURIALISM: THE
TRANSFORMATION IN URBAN GOVERNANCE IN
LATE CAPITALISM
By
David Harvey
Harvey, D. 1989: From managerialism to entrepreneurialism: can best be captured theoretically in dialectical
The transformation in urban governance in late capitalism. terms. It is from such a standpoint that I seek more
Geogr. Ann. 71 B (1): 3-17.
powerful insights into that process of city making
ABSTRACT. In recent years, urban governance has become inthat is both product and condition of ongoing
creasingly preoccupied with the exploration of new ways in which social processes of transformation in the most re-
to foster and encourage local development and employment cent phase of capitalist development.
growth. Such an entrepreneurial stance contrasts with the mana-
gerial practices of earlier decades which primarily focussed on
Enquiry into the role of urbanisation in social
the local provision of services, facilities and benefits to urban dynamics is, of course, nothing new. From time to
populations. This paper explores the context of this shift from time the issue flourishes as a focus of major deba-
managerialism to entrepreneurialism in urban governance and tes, though more often than not with regard to par-
seeks to show how mechanisms of inter-urban competition shape
outcomes and generate macroeconomic consequences. The rela-
ticular historical-geographical circumstances in
tions between urban change and economic development are the- which, for some reason or other, the role of urba-
reby brought into focus in a period characterised by considerable nisation and of cities appears particularly salient.
economic and political instability. The part that city formation played in the rise of
civilization has long been discussed, as has the role
A centerpiece of my academic concerns these last of the city in classical Greece and Rome. The signi-
two decades has been to unravel the role of urbani- ficance of cities to the transition from feudalism
sation in social change, in particular under condi- to capitalism is an arena of continuing controversy,
tions of capitalist social relations and accumula- having sparked a remarkable and revealing litera-
tion (Harvey, 1973; 1982; 1985a; 1985b; 1989a). ture over the years. A vast array of evidence can
This project has necessitated deeper enquiry into now likewise be brought to bear on the significan-
the manner in which capitalism produces a distinc- ce of urbanization to nineteenth century industri-
tive historical geography. When the physical andal, cultural and political development as well as to
social landscape of urbanisation is shaped accord-the subsequent spread of capitalist social relations
to lesser developed countries (which now support
ing to distinctively capitalist criteria, constraints
are put on the future paths of capitalist develop- some of the most dramatically growing cities in the
ment. This implies that though urban processes un- world).
der capitalism are shaped by the logic of capital All too frequently, however, the study of urbani-
circulation and accumulation, they in turn shapezation becomes separated from that of social
the conditions and circumstances of capital accu-change and economic development, as if it can
mulation at later points in time and space. Put an-somehow be regarded either as a side-show or as
other way, capitalists, like everyone else, may a passive side-product to more important and fun-
struggle to make their own historical geographydamental social changes. The successive revolu-
but, also like everyone else, they do not do so un- tions in technology, space relations, social rela-
der historical and geographical circumstances oftions, consumer habits, lifestyles, and the like that
their own individual choosing even when they havehave so characterised capitalist history can, it is
played an important and even determinant collec- sometimes suggested, be understood without any
tive role in shaping those circumstances. This two deep enquiry into the roots and nature of urban
way relation of reciprocity and domination (in processes. True, this judgement is by and large
which capitalists, like workers, find themselves do-made tacitly, by virtue of sins of omission rather
minated and constrained by their own creations)than commission. But the antiurban bias in studies
Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) ? 1 3
D. HARVEY
of macro-economic and macro-social change

rities inisBritain "have become increasingly invol-
rather too persistent for comfort. It is for this
ved inrea-
economic development activity directly re-
lated role
son that it seems worthwhile to enquire what to production and investment," while Rees
the urban process might be playing in the and
quite ra- (1985, p. 179) show how "the growth
Lambert
of distri-
dical restructuring going on in geographical local government initiatives in the economic
butions of human activity and in the political-eco-
field was positively encouraged by successive cen-
nomic dynamics of uneven geographical develop-
tral administrations during the 1970s" in order to
ment in most recent times. complement central government attempts to im-
prove the efficiency, competitive powers and profi-
tability of British Industry. David Blunkett, leader
1. The shift to entrepreneurialism in urban of the Labour Council in Sheffield for several
governance years, has recently put the seal of approval on a
A colloquium held at Orleans in 1985 brought
certain kind of urban entrepreneurialism:
together academics, businessmen, and policy- "From the early 1970s, as full employment mo-
makers from eight large cities in seven advanced ved from the top of government priorities, local
capitalist countries (Bouinot, 1987). The chargecouncils began to take up the challenge. There was
was to explore the lines of action open to urbansupport for small firms; closer links between the
governments in the face of the widespread erosion public and private sectors; promotion of local
of the economic and fiscal base of many large cities
areas to attract new business. They were adapting
in the advanced capitalist world. The colloquiumthe traditional economic role of British local go-
indicated a strong consensus: that urban govern- vernment which offered inducements in the forms
ments had to be much more innovative and entre- of grants, free loans, and publicly subsidised infra-
preneurial, willing to explore all kinds of avenues
structure, and no request for reciprocal inovement
through which to alleviate their distressed condi-
with the community, in order to attract industrial
tion and thereby secure a better future for theirand commercial concerns which were looking for
populations. The only realm of disagreement con- suitable sites for investment and trading ... Local
cerned how this best could be done. Should urban government today, as in the past, can offer its own
governments play some kind of supportive or even brand of entrepreneurship and enterprise in facing
direct role in the creation of new enterprises and
the enormous economic and social change which
technology and industrial restructuring bring"
if so of what sort? Should they struggle to preserve
or even take over threatened employment sources (Blunkett and Jackson, 1987, pp. 108-142).
and if so which ones? Or should they simply con- In the United States, where civic boosterism and
fine themselves to the provision of those infra- entrepreneurialism had long been a major feature
structures, sites, tax baits, and cultural and socialof urban systems (see Elkin, 1987) the reduction
attractions that would shore up the old and lure in inthe flow of federal redistributions and local tax
new forms of economic activity? revenues after 1972 (the year in which President
I quote this case because it is symptomatic ofNixon a declared the urban crisis to be over, signal-
reorientation in attitudes to urban governance that ling that the Federal government no longer had the
has taken place these last two decades in the ad- fiscal resources to contribute to their solution) led
vanced capitalist countries. Put simply, the "mana- to a revival of boosterism to the point where Ro-
gerial" approach so typical of the 1960s has stead- bert Goodman (1979) was prepared to characteri-
ily given way to initiatory and "entrepreneurial" se both state and local governments as "the last
forms of action in the 1970s and 1980s. In recent entrepreneurs." An extensive literature now exists
years in particular, there seems to be a general con-dealing with how the new urban entrepreneuria-
sensus emerging throughout the advanced capitalism has moved center-stage in urban policy formu-
list world that positive benefits are to be hadlation by and urban growth strategies in the United
cities taking an entrepreneurial stance to econo- States (see Judd and Ready, 1986; Peterson, 1981;
mic development. What is remarkable, is that this Leitner, 1989).
consensus seems to hold across national bounda- The shift towards entrepreneurialism has by no
ries and even across political parties and means ideo- been complete. Many local governments in
logies. Britain did not respond to the new pressures and
Both Boddy (1984) and Cochrane (1987) agree, possibilities, at least until relatively recently, while
for example, that since the early 1970s local autho- cities like New Orleans in the United States conti-
4 Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) - 1
FROM MANAGERIALISM TO ENTREPRENEURIALISM: THE TRANSFORMATION IN URBAN GOVERNANCE
nue to remain wards of the federal government

the broadest sense) is embedded in a framework
and rely fundamentally on redistributions for sur-
of zero-sum inter-urban competition for resour-
vival. And the history of its outcomes, though yet and capital, then even the most resolute
ces, jobs,
to be properly recorded, is obviously checkered,
and avantgarde municipal socialists will find them-
pockmarked with as many failures as successes and
selves, in the end, playing the capitalist game and
not a little controversy as to what constitutes "suc-
performing as agents of discipline for the very pro-
cess" anyway (a question to which I shall later
cessesre-
they are trying to resist. It is exactly this
problem
turn). Yet beneath all this diversity, the shift from that has dogged the Labour councils in
Britain (see the excellent account by Rees and
urban managerialism to some kind of entreprene-
urialism remains a persistent and recurrentLambert,
theme 1985). They had on the one hand to de-
velop
in the period since the early 1970s. Both the projects which could "produce outputs
rea-
which
sons for and the implications of such a shift are directly related to working people's
are
deserving of some scrutiny. needs, in ways which build on the skills of labour
rather
There is general agreement, of course, that thethan de-skilling them" (Murray, 1983),
shift has something to do with the difficulties
while on the other hand recognizing that much of
that have beset capitalist economies since that
the effort
re- would go for nought if the urban region
cession of 1973. Deindustrialisation, widespread
did not secure relative competitive advantages. Gi-
and seemingly 'structural' unemployment, venfiscal
the right circumstances, however, urban entre-
preneurialism
austerity at both the national and local levels, all and even inter-urban competition
may and
coupled with a rising tide of neoconservatism open the way to a non zero-sum pattern of
much stronger appeal (though often more in
development. This kind of activity has certainly
played
theory than in practice) to market rationality anda key role in capitalist development in the
privatisation, provide a backdrop to understand-
past. And it is an open question as to whether or
ing why so many urban governments, often not itofcould lead towards progressive and socialist
quite different political persuasions and transitions
armed in the future.
with very different legal and political powers, have
all taken a broadly similar direction. The greater
2. Conceptual
emphasis on local action to combat these ills also issues
There are conceptual difficulties to such an en-
seems to have something to do with the declining
quiry that deserve an initial airing. To begin with,
powers of the nation state to control multinational
money flows, so that investment increasinglythetakes
reification of cities when combined with a
language
the form of a negotiation between international fi- that sees the urban process as an active
rather
nance capital and local powers doing the best they than passive aspect of political-economic
can to maximise the attractiveness of the local site development poses acute dangers. It makes it
as a lure for capitalist development. By the sameseem as if "cities" can be active agents when they
token, the rise of urban entrepreneurialism may are mere things. Urbanisation should, rather, be
have had an important role to play in a general regarded as a spatially grounded social process in
transition in the dynamics of capitalism from a For-which a wide range of different actors with quite
dist-Keynesian regime of capital accumulation to different objectives and agendas interact through
a regime of "flexible accumulation" (see Gertler, a particular configuration of interlocking spatial
1988; Harvey, 1989b; Sayer, 1989; Schoenberger,practices. In a class-bound society such as capita-
1988; Scott, 1988; Swyngedouw, 1986, for somelism, these spatial practices acquire a definite class
elaboration and critical reflection on this contro- content, which is not to say that all spatial practices
versial concept). The transformation of urban cango- be so interpreted. Indeed, as many researchers
vernance these last two decades has had, I shallhave shown, spatial practices can and do acquire
argue, substantial macro-economic roots and imp- gender, racial and bureaucratic-administrative
lications. And, if Jane Jacobs (1984) is only half
contents (to list just a sub-set of important possibi-
lities). But under capitalism, it is the broad range
right, that the city is the relevant unit for under-
of class practices connected to the circulation of
standing how the wealth of nations is created, then
capital, the reproduction of labour power and class
the shift from urban managerialism to urban entre-
relations, and the need to control labour power,
preneurialism could have far reaching implications
for future growth prospects. that remains hegemonic.
If, for example, urban entrepreneurialism (inThe difficulty is to find a way of proceeding that
Geografiska Annaler ? 71 B (1989) ? 1 5
D. HARVEY
walled pro-
can deal specifically with the relation between physical unit or even a coherently organi-
cess and object without itself falling victimsed
toadministrative
unne- domain. The "megalopolis" of
cessary reification. The spatially grounded set of
the 1960s has suffered even further fragmentation
social processes that I call urbanisation produce in-
and dispersal, particularly in the United States, as
numerable artifacts - a built form, produced spa-
urban deconcentration gathers pace to produce a
ces and resource systems of particular"spreadqualities
city" form. Yet the spatial grounding per-
organised into a distinctive spatial configuration.
sists in some form with specific meanings and ef-
Subsequent social action must take account
fects. of
The production of new ecological patter-
these artefacts, since so many social processes
nings and structures within a spread city form has
(such as commuting) become physicallysignificance
channel- for how production, exchange, and
consumption
led by them. Urbanisation also throws up certain is organised, how social relation-
institutional arrangements, legal forms, political
ships are established, how power (financial and po-
and administrative systems, hierarchies of power,
litical) is exercised, and how the spatial integration
and the like. These, too, give a "city" objectifiedof social action is achieved. I hasten to add that
qualities that may dominate daily practices and of the urban problematic in such eco-
presentation
confine subsequent courses of action. And, finally,
logical terms in no way presumes ecological expla-
the consciousness of urban inhabitants is affected nations. It simply insists that ecological pattern-
by the environment of experience out of which per- ings are important for social organisation and ac-
ceptions, symbolic readings, and aspirations arise.tion. The shift towards entrepreneurialism in ur-
In all of these respects there is a perpetual tension
ban governance has to be examined, then, at a va-
between form and process, between object and riety of spatial scales - local neighbourhood and
subject, between activity and thing. It is as foolish
community, central city and suburb, metropolitan
to deny the role and power of objectifications, theregion, region, nation state, and the like.
capacity of things we create to return to us as so It is likewise important to specify who is being
many forms of domination, as it is to attributeentrepreneurial
to and about what. I want here to in-
such things the capacity for social action. sist that urban "governance" means much more
Given the dynamism to which capitalism is pro- than urban "government". It is unfortunate that
ne, we find that these "things" are always in the much of the literature (particularly in Britain) con-
course of transformation, that activities are concentrates so much on the latter when the real
power to reorganise urban life so often lies else-
stantly escaping the bounds of fixed forms, that the
objectified qualities of the urban are chronically where or at least within a broader coalition of for-
unstable. So universal is this capitalist condition,
ces within which urban government and admini-
that the conception of the urban and of "the city" stration have only a facilitative and coordinating
is likewise rendered unstable, not because of any role to play. The power to organise space derives
conceptual definitional failing, but precisely frombe- a whole complex of forces mobilised by diver-
cause the concept has itself to reflect changing se re-social agents. It is a conflictual process, the
lations between form and process, between activi- more so in the ecological spaces of highly variega-
ty and thing, between subjects and objects. When ted social density. Within a metropolitan region as
we speak, therefore, of a transition from urban a whole, we have to look to the formation of coali-
managerialism towards urban entrepreneurialism tion politics, to class alliance formation as the basis
these last two decades, we have to take cognizance for any kind of urban entrepreneurialism at all. Ci-
of the reflexive effects of such a shift, through the
vic boosterism has, of course, often been the pre-
rogative of the local chamber of commerce, some
impacts on urban institutions as well as urban built
environments. cabal of local financiers, industrialists and mer-
The domain of spatial practices has, unfortuna- chants, or some "roundtable" of business leaders
tely, changed in recent years, making any firm and de- real estate and property developers. The latter
finition of the urban as a distinctive spatial domain
frequently coalesce to form the guiding power in
even more problematic. On the one hand we wit- "growth machine" politics (Molotch, 1976). Edu-
ness the greater fragmentation of the urban social cational and religious institutions, different arms
space into neighbourhoods, communities, and ofagovernment (varying from the military to re-
multitude of street corner societies, while on the search or administrative establishments), local la-
other telecommuting and rapid transport make bour organisations (the building and construction
nonsense of some concept of the city as a tightly- trades in particular) as well as political parties, so-
6 Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) ? 1
cial movements, and the local state apparatuses

"The early 1970s was a period of resistance to
(which are multiple and often quite heteroge-
change: motorway protest groups, community ac-
tion against slum clearance, opponents of town
neous), can also play the game of local boosterism
though often with quite different goals. centre redevelopment. Strategic and entreprene-
Coalition and alliance formation is so delicate urial interests were sacrificed to local community
and difficult a task that the way is open here forpressures.
a Conceivably, however, we are moving
person of vision, tenacity, and skill (such as a cha-
into a different period in which the entrepreneu-
rismatic mayor, a clever city administrator, or riala role becomes dominant." (Davies, 1980, p. 23;
wealthy business leader) to put a particular stamp quoted in Ball, 1983, pp. 270-1).
upon the nature and direction of urban entrepre- In Baltimore the transition-point can be dated
neurialism, perhaps to shape it, even, to particular exactly. A referendum narrowly passed in 1978, af-
political ends. Whereas it was a public figure like ter a vigorous and contentious political campaign,
Mayor Schaeffer who played the central role in sanctioned the use of city land for the private de-
Baltimore, in cities like Halifax or Gateshead it velopment that became the highly spectacular and
has been private entrepreneurs who have taken the successful Harborplace. Thereafter, the policy of
lead. In other instances it has been a more intricate public-private partnership had a popular mandate
mix of personalities and institutions that have putas well as an effective subterranean presence in al-
a particular project together. most everything that urban governance was about
I raise these problems not because they are in-(see Berkowitz, 1984; Levine, 1987; Lyall, 1982;
surmountable or intractable - they are resolved Stoker, 1986).
daily within the practices of capitalist urbanisation Secondly, the activity of that public-private part-
- but because we have to attend to their manner nership is entrepreneurial precisely because it is
of practical resolution with a requisite care and se-
speculative in execution and design and therefore
riousness. I shall, however, venture three broad as- by all the difficulties and dangers which at-
dogged
sertions which I know to be true for a city liketach Bal-to speculative as opposed to rationally plan-
timore (the case study which underpins much ned ofand coordinated development. In many in-
the argument I offer here) and which may be more stances this has meant that the public sector assu-
generally applicable. mes the risk and the private sector takes the bene-
First, the new entrepreneurialism has, as its fits, cen-though there are enough examples where this
terpiece, the notion of a "public-private partner- is not the case (think, for example, of the private
ship" in which a traditional local boosterism isrisk in- taken in Gateshead's Metrocenter develop-
tegrated with the use of local governmentalment) po- to make any absolute generalization dang-
wers to try and attract external sources of funding,
erous. But I suspect it is this feature of risk-absorp-
new direct investments, or new employment sour- tion by the local (rather than the national or fede-
ces. The Orleans colloquium (Bouinot, 1987) ral)waspublic sector which distinguishes the present
phase of urban entrepreneurialism from earlier
full of references to the importance of this public-
private partnership and it was, after all, precisely
phases of civic boosterism in which private capital
the aim of local government reforms in Britain in generally much less risk averse.
seemed
Thirdly, the entrepreneurialism focuses much
the 1970s to facilitate their formation (or in the end
to by-pass local resistance by setting up the urbanmore closely on the political economy of place
development corporations). In the United States rather than of territory. By the latter, I mean the
kinds of economic projects (housing, education,
the tradition of federally backed and locally imple-
mented public-private partnership faded during etc.) that are designed primarily to improve condi-
the 1960s as urban governments struggled toof living or working within a particular juris-
tions
regain social control of restive populations diction. The construction of place (a new civic cen-
through redistributions of real income (better ter, an industrial park) or the enhancement of con-
housing, education, health care, etc. all targeted ditions within a place (intervention, for example,
towards the poor) in the wake of urban unrest.inThe local labour markets by re-training schemes or
downward pressure on local wages), on the other
role of the local state as facilitator for the strategic
interests of capitalist development (as opposed to can have impacts either smaller or greater
hand,
stabilizer of capitalist society) declined. The same
than the specific territory within which such pro-
dismissiveness towards capitalist developmentjects hashappen to be located. The up-grading of the
been noted in Britain: image of a cities like Baltimore, Liverpool, Glas-
Geografiska Annaler. 71 B (1989) ? 1 7
D. HARVEY
gow or Halifax, through the construction of cultu-

created through public and private investments
ral, retail, entertainment and office centers
in thecan
kinds of physical and social infrastructu-
reswhole
cast a seemingly beneficial shadow over the that strengthen the economic base of the
metropolitan region. Such projects can metropolitan
acquire region as an exporter of goods
and services. Direct interventions to stimulate
meaning at the metropolitan scale of public-priva-
te action and allow for the formation of coalitions the application of new technologies, the crea-
which leap over the kinds of city-suburb rivalries tion of new products, or the provision of ventu-
that dogged metropolitan regions in the manage- re capital to new enterprises (which may even
rial phase. On the other hand, a rather similar de- be cooperatively owned and managed) may al-
velopment in New York City - Southstreet Seaport so be significant, while local costs may be redu-
- constructs a new place that has only local im- ced by subsidies (tax breaks, cheap credit, pro-
pacts, falling far short of any metropolitan-wide curement of sites). Hardly any large scale devel-
influence, and generating a coalition of forces that opment now occurs without local government
is basically local property developers and finan- (or the broader coalition of forces constituting
ciers. local governance) offering a substantial pack-
The construction of such places may, of course, age of aids and assistance as inducements. In-
be viewed as a means to procure benefits for popu- ternational competitiveness also depends upon
lations within a particular jurisdiction, and indeed the qualities, quantities, and costs of local la-
this is a primary claim made in the public discourse bour supply. Local costs can most easily be
developed to support them. But for the most part, controlled when local replaces national collecti-
their form is such as to make all benefits indirect ve bargaining and when local governments and
and potentially either wider or smaller in scope other large institutions, like hospitals and uni-
than the jurisdiction within which they lie. Place- versities, lead the way with reductions in real
specific projects of this sort also have the habit of wages and benefits (a series of struggles over
becoming such a focus of public and political atten- wage rates and benefits in the public and institu-
tion that they divert concern and even resources tional sector in Baltimore in the 1970s was typi-
from the broader problems that may beset the re- cal). Labour power of the right quality, even
gion or territory as a whole. though expensive, can be a powerful magnet
The new urban entrepreneurialism typically for new economic development so that invest-
rests, then, on a public-private partnership focus- ment in highly trained and skilled work forces
sing on investment and economic development suited to new labour processes and their mana-
with the speculative construction of place rather gerial requirements can be well rewarded.
than amelioration of conditions within a particular There is, finally, the problem of agglomeration
territory as its immediate (though by no means ex- economies in metropolitan regions. The pro-
clusive) political and economic goal. duction of goods and services is often depen-
dent not on single decisions of economic units
(such as the large multinationals to bring a
3. Alternative strategies for urban governance branch plant to town, often with very limited
There are, I have argued elsewhere (Harvey, local spillover effects), but upon the way in
1989a, chapter 1), four basic options for urban ent- which economies can be generated by bringing
repreneurialism. Each warrants some separate together diverse activities within a restricted
consideration, even though it is the combination space of interaction so as to facilitate highly ef-
of them that provides the clue to the recent rapid ficient and interactive production systems (see
shifts in the uneven development of urban systems Scott, 1988). From this standpoint, large metro-
in the advanced capitalist world. politan regions like New York, Los Angeles,
1. Competition within the international division London, and Chicago possess some distinctive
of labour means the creation of exploitation of advantages that congestion costs have by no
particular advantages for the production of means yet offset. But, as the case of Bologna
goods and services. Some advantages derive (see Gundle, 1986) and the surge of new indu-
from the resource base (the oil that allowed Tex- strial development in Emilia Romagna illustra-
as to bloom in the 1970s) or location (e.g. favou- tes, careful attention to the industrial and mar-
red access to the vigour of Pacific Rim trading keting mix backed by strong local state action
in the case of Californian cities). But others are (communist-led in this instance), can promote
8 Geografiska Annaler. 71 B (1989)- 1
powerful growth of new industrial districts and Although the specific assets of the in-
dustries.
configurations, based on agglomeration dividual
econo-cities are obviously varied, each is able
mies and efficient organisation. to offer a host of structural reminders of just
2. The urban region can also seek to improvewhat its
made them great in the first place. They
competitive position with respect to the share,
spatial
in other words, a marketable ingredient
division of consumption. There is more called
to this
industrial and/or maritime heritage."
than trying to bring money into an urban Festivals
region and cultural events likewise become
the focus of investment activities. "The arts
through tourism and retirement attractions.
The consumerist style of urbanisationcreateaftera climate of optimism - the 'can do' cul-
1950 promoted an ever-broader basis for ture
parti-
essential to developing the enterprise cul-
cipation in mass consumption. While recession,
ture," says the introduction to a recent Arts
unemployment, and the high cost of credit Council
have of Great Britain report, adding that
rolled back that possibility for importantcultural
layers activities and the arts can help break
the downward spiral of economic stagnation in
in the population, there is still a lot of consumer
power around (much of it credit-fuelled).inner
Com- cities and help people "believe in them-
petition for that becomes more frenetic selves
whileand their community" (see Bianchini,
consumers who do have the money have the
forthcoming). Spectacle and display become
opportunity to be much more discriminating.symbols of the dynamic community, as much in
Investments to attract the consumer dollar communist controlled Rome and Bologna as in
have paradoxically grown a-pace as a response
Baltimore, Glasgow and Liverpool. This way,
to generalised recession. They increasinglyan
fo-
urban region can hope to cohere and survive
cus on the quality of life. Gentrification, cultu- as a locus of community solidarity while explo-
ral innovation, and physical up-grading of ring the the option of exploiting conspicuous con-
urban environment (including the turn to post- sumption in a sea of spreading recession.
modernist styles of architecture and urban 3. Urban
de- entrepreneurialism has also been strong-
sign)), consumer attractions (sports stadia, ly coloured by a fierce struggle over the acqui-
convention and shopping centres, marinas, sition ex- of key control and command functions in
otic eating places) and entertainment (the orga- high finance, government, or information gath-
nisation of urban spectacles on a temporaryering or and processing (including the media).
permanent basis), have all become much more Functions of this sort need particular and often
prominent facets of strategies for urban regene- expensive infrastructural provision. Efficiency
ration. Above all, the city has to appear asand an centrality within a worldwide communica-
innovative, exciting, creative, and safe placetions to net is vital in sectors where personal inter-
live or to visit, to play and consume in. Baltimo- actions of key decision makers is required. This
re, with its dismal reputation as "the armpit of
means heavy investments in transport and com-
the east coast" in the early 1970s has, for munications (airports and teleports, for examp-
example, expanded its employment in the tou- le) and the provision of adequate office space
rist trade from under one to over fifteen thou- equipped with the necessary internal and exter-
sand in less than two decades of massive urban nal linkages to minimise transactions times and
redevelopment. More recently thirteen ailingcosts. Assembling the wide range of supportive
industrial cities in Britain (including Leeds, services, particularly those that can gather and
Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle process information rapidly or allow quick con-
and Stoke-on-Trent) put together a joint pro-sultation with 'experts', calls for other kinds of
motional effort to capture more of Britain's tou- investments, while the specific skills required
rist trade. Here is how The Guardian (May 9th, by such activities put a premium on metropoli-
1987) reports this quite successful venture: tan regions with certain kinds of educations
"Apart from generating income and creating provision (business and law-schools, hightech
jobs in areas of seemingly terminal unemploy-production sectors, media skills, and the like).
ment, tourism also has a significant spin-off ef-Inter-urban competition in this realm is very ex-
fect in its broader enhancement of the environ- pensive and peculiarly tough because this is an
ment. Facelifts and facilities designed to attract area where agglomeration economies remain
more tourists also improve the quality of life supreme and the monopoly power of establish-
for those who live there, even enticing new in- ed centres, like New York, Chicago, London,
Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) ? 1 9
D. HARVEY
and Los Angeles, is particularly hard tostries and rapid accrual of command and control
break.
But since command functions have been a functions that have further stimulated consump-
strong growth sector these last twotion-oriented
decades activities to the point where there
(employment in finance and insurance has
has been a considerable revival of certain types of
manufacturing.
doubled in Britain in less than a decade), so pur- On the other hand, there is little
suit of them has more and more appealed as the
evidence that the strong growth of consumption-
golden path to urban survival. The effect,
orientedof
activity in Baltimore has done very much
course, is to make it appear as if the city offor
at all thethe growth of other functions save, per-
future is going to be a city of pure command
haps, the relatively mild proliferation of banking
and control functions, an informational andcity,
financial
a services. But there is also evidence
post-industrial city in which the export that
of servi-
the network of cities and urban regions in, say,
ces (financial, informational, knowledge-pro- the Sunbelt or Southern England has generated a
ducing) becomes the economic basis for urban
stronger collective synergism than would be the
survival. case for their respective northern counterparts.
4. Competitive edge with respect to redistribu- Noyelle and Stanback (1984) also suggest that po-
tions of surpluses through central (or in thesition and function within the urban hierarchy
United States, state) governments is still of tre-
have had an important role to play in the patter-
mendous importance since it is somewhat of ning a of urban fortunes and misfortunes. Transmis-
myth that central governments do not redistri- sion effects between cities and within the urban
bute to the degree they used to do. The chan- hierarchy must also be factored in to account for
nels have shifted so that in both Britain (take the pattern of urban fortunes and misfortunes du-
the case of Bristol) and in the United States (ta-
ring the transition from managerialism to entre-
ke the case of Long Beach-San Diego) it is mi- preneurialism in urban governance.
litary and defense contracts that provide the Urban entrepreneurialism implies, however,
sustenance for urban prosperity, in part be- some level of inter-urban competition. We here ap-
cause of the sheer amount of money involvedproach a force that puts clear limitations upon the
but also because of the type of employment andpower of specific projects to transform the lot of
the spin-offs it may have into so-called "high- particular cities. Indeed, to the degree that inter-
tech" industries (Markusen, 1986). And evenurban competition becomes more potent, it will
though every effort may have been made to cutalmost certainly operate as an "external coercive
the flow of central government support to manypower" over individual cities to bring them closer
urban regions, there are many sectors of the into line with the discipline and logic of capitalist
economy (health and education, for example)development. It may even force repetitive and se-
and even whole metropolitan economies (seerial reproduction of certain patterns of develop-
Smith and Keller's 1983, study of New Orleans)ment (such as the serial reproduction of "world
where such a cut off was simply impossible. Ur- trade centers" or of new cultural and entertain-
ban ruling class alliances have had plenty ofment centers, of waterfront development, of post-
opportunity, therefore, to exploit redistributivemodern shopping malls, and the like). The eviden-
mechanisms as a means to urban survival. ce for serial reproduction of similar forms of urban
redevelopment is quite strong and the reasons be-
These four strategies are not mutually exclusive
and the uneven fortunes of metropolitan regions hind it are worthy of note.
have depended upon the nature of the coalitions With the diminution in transport costs and the
consequent reduction in spatial barriers to move-
that have formed, the mix and timing of entrepre-
neurial strategies, the particular resources (natu-
ment of goods, people, money and information,
ral, human, locational) with which the metropoli-
the significance of the qualities of place has been
tan region can work, and the strength of the com-
enhanced and the vigour of inter-urban competi-
petition. But uneven growth has also resulted from
tion for capitalist development (investment, jobs,
the synergism that leads one kind of strategy to be
tourism, etc.) has strengthened considerably. Con-
facilitative for another. For example, the growth
sider the matter, first of all, from the standpoint
of the Los Angeles-San Diego-Long Beach- of highly mobile multinational capital. With the re-
Orange County megalopolis appears to have been duction of spatial barriers, distance from the mar-
fuelled by interaction effects between strongket go-or from raw materials has become less relevant
vernmental redistributions to the defense indu- to locational decisions. The monopolistic elements
10 Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989)- 1
in spatial competition, so essential to the workings

decline under conditions where urban entreprene-
of L6schian theory, disappear. Heavy, low urialism
value and inter-urban competition are strong.
items (like beer and mineral water), which usedThetoinnovative and competitive responses of many
be locally produced are now traded over such urban
long ruling class alliances have engendered more
distances that concepts such as the "range rather
of a than less uncertainty and in the end made
good" make little sense. On the other hand,the theurban system more rather than less vulnerable
to the
ability of capital to exercise greater choice over lo- uncertainties of rapid change.
cation, highlights the importance of the particular
production conditions prevailing at a particular
place. Small differences in labour supply (quanti-
4. The macro-economic implications of
ties and qualities), in infrastructures and resour-
ces, in government regulation and taxation, assu- inter-urban competition
me much greater significance than was theThe casemacro-economic as well as local implications
when high transport costs created "natural" mono-
of urban entrepreneurialism and stronger inter-ur-
polies for local production in local markets. Bybanthe competition deserve some scrutiny. It is parti-
same token, multinational capital now has the cularly
po- useful to put these phenomena into rela-
tion
wer to organise its responses to highly localised va-with some of the more general shifts and
riations in market taste through small batch and that have been observed in the way capita-
trends
specialised production designed to satisfy list localeconomies have been working since the first
market niches. In a world of heightened competi-major post-war recession of 1973 sparked a variety
tion - such as that which has prevailed since of the
seemingly profound adjustments in the paths of
post-war boom came crashing to a halt in 1973 capitalist
- development.
coercive pressures force multinational capitalTo tobegin with, the fact of inter-urban competi-
be much more discriminating and sensitive tionto and urban entrepreneurialism has opened up
small variations between places with respect theto urban spaces of the advanced capitalist count-
both production and consumption possibilities. ries to all kinds of new patterns of development,
Consider matters, in the second instance, evenfromwhen the net effect has been the serial repro-
duction of science parks, gentrification, world tra-
the standpoint of the places that stand to improve
or lose their economic vitality if they do not ding
offercenters, cultural and entertainment centers,
enterprises the requisite conditions to come large
to or scale interior shopping malls with postmo-
dern accoutrements, and the like. The emphasis
remain in town. The reduction of spatial barriers
has, in fact, made competition between localities,
on the production of a good local business climate
has emphasised the importance of the locality as
states, and urban regions for development capital
even more acute. Urban governance has thus be- of regulation of infrastructural provision, la-
a site
come much more oriented to the provisionbour of a relations, environmental controls, and even
"good business climate" and to the construction taxofpolicy vis-a-vis international capital (see
all sorts of lures to bring capital into town. In-
Swyngedouw, this issue). The absorption of risk by
creased entrepreneurialism has been a partial there- public sector and in particular the stress on
sult of this process, of course. But we here seepublic
that sector involvement in infrastructural provi-
increasing entrepreneurialism in a different sion,
light has meant that the cost of locational change
has diminished from the standpoint of multinatio-
precisely because the search to procure investment
capital confines innovation to a very narrow nalpath capital, making the latter more rather than less
built around a favourable package for capitalist de-
geographically mobile. If anything, the new urban
entrepreneurialism adds to rather than detracts
velopment and all that entails. The task of urban
governance is, in short, to lure highly mobile and the geographical flexibility with which multi-
from
flexible production, financial, and consumption national firms can approach their locational strate-
flows into its space. The speculative qualities gies.
of ur- To the degree that the locality becomes the
ban investments simply derive from the inabilitysite of regulation of labour relations, so it also
to predict exactly which package will succeed contributes
and to increased flexibility in managerial
which will not, in a world of considerable econo-
strategies in geographically segmented labour mar-
mic instability and volatility. kets. Local, rather than national collective bar-
It is easy to envisage, therefore, all manner of has long been a feature of labour relations
gaining
upward and downward spirals of urban growth in and
the United States, but the trend towards local
Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) - 1 11
D. HARVEY
agreements is marked in many advanced capitalist The kinds of jobs created in many instances like-
countries over the past two decades. wise militate against any progressive shift in in-
come distributions since the emphasis upon small
There is, in short, nothing about urban entrepre-
neurialism which is antithetical to the thesis of businesses and sub-contracting can even spill over
some macro-economic shift in the form and style into direct encouragement of the "informal sec-
of capitalist development since the early 1970s.tor"
In-as a basis for urban survival. The rise of infor-
deed, a strong case can be made (cf. Harvey,
mal production activities in many cities, particular-
1989a, chapter 8), that the shift in urban politicsly in the United States (Sassen-Koob, 1988), has
and the turn to entrepreneurialism has had an been im- a marked feature in the last two decades and
is increasingly seen as either a necessary evil or as
portant facilitative role in a transition from locatio-
nally rather rigid Fordist production systems back-a dynamic growth sector capable of reimporting
ed by Keynesian state welfarism to a much more some level of manufacturing activity back into
geographically open and market based formotherwise of declining urban centers. By the same to-
flexible accumulation. A further case can be made ken, the kinds of service activities and managerial
(cf. Harvey, 1989a and 1989b) that the trend away functions which get consolidated in urban regions
from urban based modernism in design, cultural tend to be either low-paying jobs (often held exclu-
forms and lifte style towards postmodernismsively is by women) or very high paying positions at
also connected to the rise of urban entreprene-
the top end of the managerial spectrum. Urban
urialism. In what follows I shall illustrate how and
entrepreneurialism consequently contributes to
why such connections might arise. increasing disparities in wealth and income as well
Consider, first, the general distributive consequ-as to that increase in urban impoverishment which
ences of urban entrepreneurialism. Much of thehas been noted even in those cities (like New York)
vaunted "public-private partnership" in the Uni- that have exhibited strong growth. It has, of
ted States, for example, amounts to a subsidy for course, been exactly this result that Labour coun-
affluent consumers, corporations, and powerfulcils in Britain (as well as some of the more progres-
command functions to stay in town at the expense sive urban administrations in the United States)
of local collective consumption for the workinghave been struggling to resist. But it is by no means
class and poor. The general increase in problemsclear that even the most progressive urban govern-
of impoverishment and disempowerment, includ- ment can resist such an outcome when embedded
in the logic of capitalist spatial development in
ing the production of a distinctive "underclass" (to
use the language of Wilson, 1987) has been docu- which competition seems to operate not as a bene-
mented beyond dispute for many of the large cities ficial hidden hand, but as an external coercive law
in the United States. Levine, for example, provi- forcing the lowest common denominator of social
des abundant details for Baltimore in a settingresponsibility and welfare provision within a com-
where major claims are made for the benefits topetitively organised urban system.
be had from public-private partnership. Boddy Many of the innovations and investments de-
(1984) likewise reports that what he calls "main- signed to make particular cities more attractive as
stream" (as opposed to socialist) approaches to lo-cultural and consumer centres have quickly been
cal development in Britain have been "property- imitated elsewhere, thus rendering any competiti-
led, business and market oriented and competitive advantage within a system of cities ephemeral.
ve, with economic development rather than em- How many successful convention centres, sports
ployment the primary focus, and with an emphasis stadia, disney-worlds, harbour places and specta-
on small firms". Since the main aim has been "to cular shopping malls can there be? Success is often
stimulate or attract in private enterprise by creat-
short-lived or rendered moot by parallel or alter-
ing the preconditions for profitable investment", native innovations arising elsewhere. Local coali-
local government "has in effect ended up under- tions have no option, given the coercive laws of
pinning private enterprise, and taking on part competition,
of except to keep ahead of the game
the burden of production costs". Since capitalthus engendering leap-frogging innovations in life
tends to be more rather than less mobile these styles, cultural forms, products and service mixes,
days, it follows that local subsidies to capital will
even institutional and political forms if they are to
likely increase while local provision for the under-
survive. The result is a stimulating if often destruc-
privileged will diminish, producing greater polari-tive maelstrom of urban-based cultural, political,
sation in the social distribution of real income. production and consumption innovations. It is at
12 Geografiska Annaler ? 71 B (1989) 1
this point that we can identify an albeit subter- stable basis for urban entrepreneurial endeavour.
ranean but nonetheless vital connection between The emphasis upon tourism, the production and
the rise of urban entrepreneurialism and theconsumption
post- of spectacles, the promotion of ephe-
modern penchant for design of urban fragments meral events within a given locale, bear all the
rather than comprehensive urban planning, for signsep-of being favoured remedies for ailing urban
hemerality and eclecticism of fashion and economies.style Urban investments of this sort may
rather than the search for enduring values, forquick though ephemeral fixes to urban pro-
yield
quotation and fiction rather than invention and But they are often highly speculative. Gear-
blems.
function, and, finally, for medium over message ing up to bid for the Olympic Games is an expen-
and image over substance. sive exercise, for example, which may or may not
In the United States, where urban entreprene- pay off. Many cities in the United States (Buffalo,
urialism has been particularly vigorous, the resultfor example) have invested in vast stadium facili-
has been instability within the urban system. ties in the hope of landing a major league baseball
Houston, Dallas and Denver, boom towns inteam the and Baltimore is similarly planning a new sta-
1970s, suddenly dissolved after 1980 into morasses dium to try and recapture a football team that went
of excess capital investment bringing a host to of afi-
superior stadium in Indianapolis some years
nancial institutions to the brink of, if not inago actual
(this is the contemporary United States ver-
bankruptcy. Silicon Valley, once the high-tech sion of that ancient cargo cult practice in Papua,
wonder of new products and new employment, New Guinea, of building an airstrip in the hope of
suddenly lost its luster but New York, on the luring
edge a jet liner to earth). Speculative projects of
of bankruptcy in 1975, rebounded in the this 1980ssort are part and parcel of a more general mac-
with the immense vitality of its financial servicesro-economic problem. Put simply, credit-financed
and command functions, only to find its future shopping malls, sports stadia, and other facets of
threatened once more with the wave of lay-offs conspicuous
and high consumption are high risk pro-
mergers which rationalised the financial services jects that can easily fall on bad times and thus ex-
sector in the wake of the stock market crash of acerbate, as the "overmalling of America" only
October, 1987. San Francisco, the darling of Paci- too dramatically illustrates (Green, 1988), the
fic Rim trading, suddenly finds itself with excess problems of overaccumulation and overinvest-
office space in the early 1980s only to recover mental- to which capitalism as a whole is so easily
most immediately. New Orleans, already strugg- prone. The instability that pervades the U.S. finan-
ling as a ward of federal government redistribu- cial system (forcing something of the order of
tions, sponsors a disastrous World Fair that drives$ 100 billion in public moneys to stabilise the
it deeper into the mire, while Vancouver, already savings and loan industry) is partly due to bad
booming, hosts a remarkably successful Worldloans Ex- in energy, agriculture, and urban real estate
development. Many of the "festival market pla-
position. The shifts in urban fortunes and misfortu-
nes since the early 1970s have been truly remark- ces" that looked like an "Alladin's lamp for cities
able and the strengthening of urban entreprene- fallen on hard times", just a decade ago, ran a re-
urialism and inter-urban competition has had a cent
lot report in the Baltimore Sun (August 20,
to do with it. 1987), have now themselves fallen on hard times.
But there has been another rather more subtle "Projects in Richmond, Va., Flint, Mich. and Tole-
effect that deserves consideration. Urban entre- do, Ohio, managed by Rouse's Enterprise Devel-
preneurialism encourages the development opment
of Co., are losing millions of dollars", and
those kinds of activities and endeavours that have even the "South Street Seaport in New York and
the strongest localised capacity to enhance proper-Riverwalk in New Orleans" have encountered se-
vere financial difficulties. Ruinous inter-urban
ty values, the tax base, the local circulation of re-
venues, and (most often as a hoped-for consequen- competition on all such dimensions bids fair to be-
ce of the preceding list) employment growth. Since come a quagmire of indebtedness.
increasing geographical mobility and rapidly Even in the face of poor economic performance,
changing technologies have rendered many forms however, investments in these last kinds of pro-
of production of goods highly suspect, so the projects appear to have both a social and political at-
traction. To begin with, the selling of the city as a
duction of those kinds of services that are (a) high-
ly localised and (b) characterised by rapid if notlocation for activity depends heavily upon the crea-
tion of an attractive urban imagery. City leaders
instantaneous turnover time appear as the most
D. HARVEY
renaissanceas
can look upon the spectacular development byaLevine (1987) showed again and
"loss leader" to pull in other forms of
againdevelop-
how partial and limited the benefits were
ment. Part of what we have seen these last two de- and how the city as a whole was accelerating rather
cades is the attempt to build a physical and social than reversing its decline. The image of prosperity
imagery of cities suited for that competitive purpo- conceals all that, masks the underlying difficulties
se. The production of an urban image of this sort and projects an imagery of success that spreads in-
also has internal political and social consequences.ternationally so that the London Sunday Times
It helps counteract the sense of alienation and ano- (November 29th, 1987) can report, without a hint
mie that Simmel long ago identified as such a prob- of criticism, that "Baltimore, despite soaring
lematic feature of modern city life. It particularly unemployment, boldly turned its derelict harbor
does so when an urban terrain is opened for dis- into a playground. Tourists meant shopping, cate-
ring and transport, this in turn meant construc-
play, fashion and the "presentation of self" in a sur-
rounding of spectacle and play. If everyone, from tion, distribution, manufacturing - leading to
punks and rap artists to the "yuppies" and the more jobs more residents, more activity. The de-
haute bourgeoisie can participate in the produc- cay of old Baltimore slowed, halted, then turned
tion of an urban image through their production back. The harbor area is now among America's top
of social space, then all can at least feel some sense
tourist draws and urban unemployment is falling
of belonging to that place. The orchestrated pro- fast". Yet it is also apparent that putting Baltimore
duction of an urban image can, if successful, also on the map in this way, giving it a stronger sense
of place and of local identity, has been successful
help create a sense of social solidarity, civic pride
and loyalty to place and even allow the urban ima- politically in consolidating the power of influence
ge to provide a mental refuge in a world that capi- of the local public-private partnership that
tal treats as more and more place-less. Urban en- brought the project into being. It has brought de-
trepreneurialism (as opposed to the much more fa- velopment money into Baltimore (though it is
celess bureaucratic managerialism) here meshes hard to tell if it has brought more in than it has
with a search for local identity and, as such, openstaken out given the absorption of risk by the public
up a range of mechanisms for social control. Bread sector). It also has given the population at large
and circuses was the famous Roman formula that some sense of place-bound identity. The circus suc-
now stands to be reinvented and revived, while the ceeds even if the bread is lacking. The triumph of
ideology of locality, place and community beco- image over substance is complete.
mes central to the political rhetoric of urban gover-
nance which concentrates on the idea of together-
5. Critical perspectives on the entrepreneurial
ness in defense against a hostile and threatening
world of international trade and heightened com-turn in urban governance under conditions of
petition. inter-urban competition
The radical reconstruction of the image of Balti- There has been a good deal of debate in recent
more through the new waterfront and inner-har- years over the "relative autonomy" of the local sta-
bour development is a good case in point. The re- te in relation to the dynamics of capital accumula-
development put Baltimore on the map in a new tion. The turn to entrepreneurialism in urban go-
way, earned the city the title of "renaissance city" vernance seems to suggest considerable autonomy
and put it on the front cover of Time Magazine, of local action. The notion of urban entreprene-
shedding its image of dreariness and impoverish- urialism as I have here presented it, does not in
ment. It appeared as a dynamic go-getting city, rea- any way presume that the local state or the broader
dy to accommodate outside capital and to encoura- class alliance that constitutes urban governance is
ge the movement in of capital and of the "right" automatically (or even in the famous "last instan-
people. No matter that the reality is one of increa- ce") captive of solely capitalist class interests or
sed impoverishment and overall urban deteriora- that its decisions are prefigured directly in terms
tion, that a thorough local enquiry based on inter- reflective of the requirements of capital accumula-
views with community, civic and business leaders tion. On the surface, at least, this seems to render
identified plenty of "rot beneath the glitter" (Szan- my account inconsistent with that Marxist version
ton, 1986), that a Congressional Report of 1984 of local state theory put forward by, say, Cockburn
described the city as one of the "neediest" in the (1977), and strongly dissented from by a range of
United States, and that a thorough study of the other non-Marxist or neo-Marxist writers such as
14 Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) - 1
Mollenkopf (1983), Logan and Molotch modes(1987),

of social and political regulation suited to
Gurr and King (1987) and Smith (1988). new Conside-
forms and paths of capital accumulation. If
this is indica-
ration of inter-urban competition, however, what is meant by the "relative autonomy"
tes a way in which a seemingly autonomousof theurban
local state then there is nothing about it
entrepreneurialism can be reconciled withwhich the
makes al-
urban entrepreneurialism in princip-
le in any ca-
beit contradictory requirements of continuous way different from the "relative auto-
pital accumulation while guaranteeingnomy" the repro-
which all capitalist firms, institutions and
duction of capitalist social relations onenterprises
ever wider possess in exploring different paths to
scales and at deeper levels. capital accumulation. Relative autonomy under-
Marx advanced the powerful proposition stood inthat
this way is perfectly consistent with, and
competition is inevitably the "bearer" of capitalist
indeed is constitutive of, the general theory of ca-
social relations in any society where thepital accumulation to which I would subscribe
circulation
of capital is a hegemonic force. The coercive
(Harvey, laws
1982). The theoretical difficulty arises,
of competition force individual or collective agents
however, as in so many issues of this type, because
(capitalist firms, financial institutions, states,
Marxian as ci-
well as non-Marxian theory treats of
ties) into certain configurations of activities which
the relative autonomy argument as if it can be con-
are themselves constitutive of the capitalist
sidereddyna-
outside of the controlling power of space
mic. But the "forcing" occurs after the action
relations and as if inter-urban and spatial competi-
tion are either
rather than before. Capitalist development is al-non-existent or irrelevant.
ways speculative - indeed, the whole history
In theof ca-of this argument, it would seem that
light
it is
pitalism can best be read as a whole series ofthe managerial stance under conditions of
minu-
scule and sometimes grandiose speculativeweak thrusts
inter-urban competition that would render
piled historically and geographically one upon
urban an-
governance less consistent with the rules of
capital accumulation. Consideration of that argu-
other. There is, for example, no exact prefiguring
of how firms will adapt and behave in thementfacerequires,
of however, an extended analysis of
market competition. Each will seek its theown
relations
path of the welfare state and of national
to survival without any prior understanding
Keynesianism of (in which local state action was em-
bedded)
what will or will not succeed. Only after to capital accumulation during the 1950s
the event
does the "hidden hand" (Adam Smith'sand phrase) of is not the place to attempt such an
1960s. This
the market assert itself as "an a posteriori, nature-
analysis, but it is important to recognize that it was
imposed necessity, controlling the lawless caprice
in terms of the welfare state and Keynesian com-
of the producers" (Marx, 1967, p. 336). promise that much of the argument over the relati-
Urban governance is similarly and liable to be of the local state emerged. Recogni-
ve autonomy
equally if not even more lawless and zing
capricious.
that as a particular interlude, however, helps
understand
But there is also every reason to expect that such why civic boosterism and urban entre-
preneurialism
"lawless caprice" will be regulated after the fact are such old and well-tried tradi-
by inter-urban competition. Competitiontionsfor
in the
in-historical geography of capitalism
vestments and jobs, particularly under(starting, of course, with the Hanseatic League
conditions
of generalised unemployment, industrial restruc-
and the Italian City States). The recovery and rein-
forcement
turing and in a phase of rapid shifts towards of that tradition and the revival of inter-
more
urban competition
flexible and geographically mobile patterns of ca- these last two decades, sug-
gests that all
pital accumulation, will presumably generate urban governance has moved more
kinds of ferments concerning how bestrather than less into line with the naked require-
to capture
ments oflocal
and stimulate development under particular capital accumulation. Such a shift requi-
conditions. Each coalition will seek out its distinc- red a radical reconstruction of central to local state
relations and the cutting free of local state activi-
tive version of what Jessop (1983) calls "accumula-
ties from the welfare state and the Keynesian com-
tion strategies and hegemonic projects". From the
standpoint of long-run capital accumulation, itpromise
is (both of which have been under strong at-
tack these last two decades). And, needless to say,
essential that different paths and different pack-
ages of political, social, and entrepreneurial en-
there is strong evidence of turmoil in this quarter
in many of the advanced capitalist countries in re-
deavours get explored. Only in this way is it pos-
sible for a dynamic and revolutionary social sys-
cent years.
tem, such as capitalism, to discover new forms andIt is from this perspective that it becomes pos-
D. HARVEY
urban
sible to construct a critical perspective on thecompetition
con- is the primary contradiction to
be addressed. It should be regarded, rather, as a
temporary version of urban entrepreneurialism.
To begin with, enquiry should focus on condition
the con- which acts as a "bearer" (to use Marx's
trast between the surface vigour of many ofofthe
phrase) the more general social relations of any
projects for regeneration of flagging urban
mode econo-
of production within which that competition
is embedded.
mies and the underlying trends in the urban condi- Socialism within one city is not, of
course,
tion. It should recognize that behind the mask a feasible
of project even under the best of
many successful projects there lie some circumstances.
serious so- Yet cities are important power ba-
ses from
cial and economic problems and that in many which to work. The problem is to devise
cities
these are taking geographical shape in the
a geopolitical
form of strategy of inter-urban linkage that
a dual city of inner city regeneration and inter-urban
mitigates a competition and shifts politi-
surrounding sea of increasing impoverishment.
cal horizons A
away from the locality and into a more
critical perspective should also focus on some of challenge to capitalist uneven devel-
generalisable
the dangerous macroeconomic consequences,
opment. Working class movements, for example,
many of which seem inescapable givenhave theproven
coer- historically to be quite capable of
cion exercised through inter-urban competition.
commanding the politics of place, but they have
The latter include regressive impacts onalways remained vulnerable to the discipline of
the distri-
bution of income, volatility within the space
urban relations
net- and the more powerful command
work and the ephemerality of the benefits
over which
space (militarily as well as economically) exer-
many projects bring. Concentration on cised by an increasingly internationalised bour-
spectacle
and image rather than on the substance of econo-
geoisie. Under such conditions, the trajectory ta-
mic and social problems can also prove ken
deleterious
through the rise of urban entrepreneurialism
these lastcan
in the long-run, even though political benefits few years serves to sustain and deepen
all too easily be had. capitalist relations of uneven geographical devel-
Yet there is something positive alsoopment
goingandonthereby affects the overall path of ca-
here that deserves close attention. The idea of the pitalist development in intriguing ways. But a criti-
city as a collective corporation, within which calde-
perspective on urban entrepreneurialism indi-
mocratic decision-making can operate has a long cates not only its negative impacts but its poten-
history in the pantheon of progressive doctrinestiality for transformation into a progressive urban
and practices (the Paris Commune being, of cour-corporatism, armed with a keen geopolitical sense
se, the paradigm case in socialist history). There
of how to build alliances and linkages across space
have been some recent attempts to revive such a
in such a way as to mitigate if not challenge the
corporatist vision both in theory (see Frug, 1980)
hegemonic dynamic of capitalist accumulation to
as well as in practice (see Blunkett and Jackson,
dominate the historical geography of social life.
1987). While it is possible, therefore, to character-
ize certain kinds of urban entrepreneurialism as
Harvey, D., School of Geography, University of
purely capitalistic in both method, intent and re-
Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX 13 TB, U. K.
sult, it is also useful to recognize that many of the
problems of collective corporatist action originate
not with the fact of some kind of civic boosterism,
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David Harvey. From Managerialism To Entrepreneurialism

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From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation in Urban Governance in

Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) ? 1 3

of macro-economic and macro-social change

4 Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) - 1

nue to remain wards of the federal government

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6 Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) ? 1

cial movements, and the local state apparatuses

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gow or Halifax, through the construction of cultu-

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in spatial competition, so essential to the workings

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14 Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) - 1

Mollenkopf (1983), Logan and Molotch modes(1987),

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16 Geografiska Annaler - 71 B (1989) ? 1

COCKBURN. C. (1977): The local state: managementMARKUSEN.

Geografiska Annaler ? 71 B (1989) - 1 17

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