Financialising urban water infrastructure: Extracting local value, distributing value globally

Michael Pryke and John Allen
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Michael Pryke: The Open University, UK
John Allen: The Open University, UK

Urban Studies, 2019, vol. 56, issue 7, 1326-1346

Abstract: Since the insertion of urban infrastructure into the risk-taking world of financialisation, techniques for capturing added value from underlying revenue streams, from securitisation and derivatives to the structuring of bond and equity returns, have come to the fore. A value model, based on extraction through interest and dividends paid, as well as multiple fees, in our view, has benefited investors and financial intermediaries alike. Through the example of Carlsbad desalination plant in San Diego, California, the paper sets out to show how a piece of drinking water infrastructure was translated as a value asset to match the needs of institutional investors in the USA and beyond. The geography of value capture and its distribution globally is shown to be not simply financially innovative, but also spatially innovative and perhaps best understood through its topological spaces.

Keywords: built environment; finance/financialisation; globalisation; infrastructure; topology; å»ºæˆ çŽ¯å¢ƒ; é‡‘èž /é‡‘èž åŒ–; å…¨ç ƒåŒ–; 基础设施; 拓扑结构 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:56:y:2019:i:7:p:1326-1346

DOI: 10.1177/0042098017742288

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