 The Production of Urban Space in the ¡®Free Enterprise City¡¯, Houston, TexasJose L. Beraud Lozano and Barry A. Espinosa-Oropeza International Journal of Social Science Studies, 2014, vol. 2, issue 1, 1-15 Abstract: The history of Texas and Houston is directly related to the rise of modern capitalism. Through a historiographic observation, in this paper we examine the emergence and consolidation of the city of Houston and how it has captured the intervention of private capital in a voracious land appropriation scheme and speculative real estate industry. This development is founded over a deep-rooted ideology that permeates Houston and Texas, considering land as a commodity and a culture of privatism. We review the rationale and protagonists of the relevant historic phases of urban development that have fed the cultural symbolic dimension of the ¡°free enterprise city¡± and ¡°city of the future.¡± And, demonstrate the fallacy of the laissez-faire ideology predicated by the business elite while lobbying for government funds to extend Houston¡¯s urban territory, build infrastructure, and invest in expensive industrial facilities which mainly benefit the elite. Keywords: Houston; urban development; urban policy; ideology; privatism; laissez-faire; government intervention; land as commodity (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rfa:journl:v:2:y:2014:i:1:p:1-15 Access Statistics for this article More articles in International Journal of Social Science Studies from Redfame publishing Contact information at EDIRC. |
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