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World class from within: aspiration, connection and brokering in the Colombo real estate market

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  • Radicati, Alessandra

Abstract

This paper explores how the aspirational urban form of the ‘world-class city’ is produced from within the city itself. Rather than focusing on global competition between cities, the analysis considers how local actors in key industries discursively and materially produce the world-class city through their labor. The analytic of connection is introduced as central to understanding how world-class city-making projects are achieved. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Colombo’s high-end real estate sector, the article examines how a successful broker creates and manages connections across different scales and registers. It focuses on three key areas: (1) the rhetorical connections drawn between luxury real estate and national development; (2) the connections created between wealthy foreign clients and local property owners and (3) the work of connecting disparate narratives about supply and demand for luxury housing. I highlight that against the backdrop of considerable economic and political uncertainty, connections are valuable even if they do not result in immediate profit. Offering a glimpse into the world of white-collar professionals in the luxury real estate industry, this paper underscores that world-class city-making projects are embedded in local realities even as they reflect generalized patterns of urban development.

Suggested Citation

  • Radicati, Alessandra, 2022. "World class from within: aspiration, connection and brokering in the Colombo real estate market," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112566, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:112566
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/112566/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Goldman, 2011. "Speculative Urbanism and the Making of the Next World City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 555-581, May.
    2. Tim Bunnell & Jamie Gillen & Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho, 2018. "The Prospect of Elsewhere: Engaging the Future through Aspirations in Asia," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(1), pages 35-51, January.
    3. Bear, Laura & Birla, Ritu & Puri, Stine Simonsen, 2015. "Speculation: futures and capitalism in India: opening statement," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 61802, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Harry Pettit, 2018. "Hopeful City: Meritocracy and Affect in Global Cairo," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1048-1063, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    real estate; connection; world-class city; aspiration; labor; Colombo; Sri Lanka; PhD award; Sage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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