Dark cities and Oligarchic Formations: Illicit finance and money influence in contemporary cities
Lecture two of the Sheffield Urbanism lecture series "Finance Urbanism In the Age of Crisis" delivered by Professor Rowland Aktinson is available online, along with his presentation slides.
Access the presentation slides
Knowledge of the rich and their influence is important because it compels us to reflect on the possibility that money power may triumph over other forms of representation, undermine active and democratic forms of politics, and damage the capacity of citizenries to secure key resources such as housing, health and educational provisions. This presentation considers two key issues relation to such questions of knowledge, power and wealth/resource. First, we will look at the dark city phenomenon in which illicit financial flows form major investment conduits in key hubs like London, New York, Dubai, and Hong Kong. Here the effect is one of intense gains via combinations of illicit and conventional financial processing that generates a hollow or darkened city as revenues are diverted away from social investment. The second phenomenon is the development of ‘oligarcities’, urban spaces in which wealth-influence is becoming increasingly evident. Here reflections are offered on an upcoming five-year project that will examine the role of ‘oligarchic formations’ of the rich and delegated actors in key cities today.