Research Diary
Entry 1: The Journey to Conceptualising the Hyper-Capitalist Urban Node
The Research Question That Started It All
For over a year now, after several conversations with a research collaborator, I've been wrestling with a persistent question: Why don't our existing theoretical models adequately capture what's happening in contemporary cities? While established frameworks like Sassen's Global Cities model and Friedmann's World Cities hypothesis have provided valuable insights into urban hierarchies and command functions, I kept noticing something missing, a way to explain the qualitative transformations occurring through intensified financial processes.
This gap led me to develop what I now call the Hyper-Capitalist Urban Node (HCUN) concept. The journey wasn't linear, and that's precisely what I want to share in this diary, the messy, iterative process of theoretical development.
Early Conceptual Struggles
When I first began examining contemporary urban transformations, I found myself bouncing between different theoretical frameworks, each offering partial insights but none fully capturing the phenomena I was observing. I initially worked with financialisation literature but felt it didn't adequately address the institutional dimensions and historical continuities I was seeing in my research.
What became increasingly clear was that the cities I studied weren't merely intensifying existing patterns, they were undergoing fundamental qualitative shifts in how they function within global capitalism. This realisation pushed me to develop a more comprehensive framework.
The "Aha" Moment: Institutional Gravity
The concept of "institutional gravity" emerged during a particularly frustrating week of trying to reconcile historical patterns with contemporary transformations. I had been mapping institutional arrangements across several cities and noticed how historical patterns seemed to become embedded in urban development, creating path dependencies that influenced present configurations.
This wasn't just about institutional lock-in, it was about how these historical patterns actively shaped the way global financial flows manifested in urban space. The metaphor of "gravity" clicked because it captured both the pulling force of historical patterns and the way they bend the trajectory of financial flows.
Defining the Hyper-Capitalist Urban Node
Drawing on these insights, I began to articulate what I now term the Hyper-Capitalist Urban Node (HCUN). I define it as a distinct urban form characterised by the intense concentration of financial power that fundamentally transforms economic, social, and spatial relations within the city. This isn't merely about cities with lots of banks or financial services, it's about urban spaces where financial processes have reached such intensity that they create qualitative shifts in how the city functions.
What makes an HCUN distinctive is that it represents more than a quantitative intensification of existing urban patterns. Rather, it marks a qualitative transformation in urban dynamics. The HCUN framework synthesises institutional, historical, spatial, and temporal dimensions to explain how global financial flows interact with nationally specific institutional arrangements to produce distinctive urban forms.
In my notes, I kept coming back to this notion of transformation rather than just intensification. Cities like London, New York, and Singapore haven't simply become "more financial." they've undergone fundamental shifts in their economic, social, and spatial organisation due to the dominance of financial processes. Yet each manifests these shifts differently due to their institutional contexts and historical trajectories.
Situating the HCUN Within Existing Frameworks
To understand what made the HCUN concept distinct, I needed to systematically compare it with existing frameworks. I ultimately identified nine key theoretical approaches to modelling cities:
Global Cities (Sassen)
World Cities (Friedmann)
Financialised Cities (Aalbers)
Financial Centres (OECD)
Neoliberal Cities (Peck and Tickell)
Entrepreneurial Cities (Harvey)
Command and Control Centres (Friedmann)
Alpha/Beta/Gamma Cities (GaWC)
Alpha City (Atkinson)
The comparative analysis helped clarify what was distinctive about the HCUN framework, particularly its synthesis of institutional, historical, spatial, and temporal dimensions, and its emphasis on qualitative transformation rather than just quantitative intensification.
The Collaborative Nature of My Research
It's important to note that my research projects, including the development of the HCUN concept, are primarily collaborative endeavours. I work closely with colleagues both at my university and at other academic institutions worldwide. These collaborative relationships have been instrumental in developing and refining the HCUN framework.
These collaborations extend beyond theoretical development to empirical research as well. The upcoming case studies will involve research teams at each location, combining local knowledge with comparative analytical frameworks. This collaborative approach not only enhances the robustness of the research but also creates opportunities for theoretical refinement through ongoing dialogue across different institutional and disciplinary contexts.
Current Challenges and Next Steps
As I continue developing this framework, several challenges remain:
Operationalisation: How do we measure the qualitative transformations I describe? I'm currently developing indicators that capture these shifts without reducing them to simple metrics.
Variations: How do HCUNs manifest differently across geographical contexts? Initial comparative work suggests significant variations based on institutional arrangements.
Social Consequences: What are the lived experiences within HCUNs? The theoretical model needs to connect with empirical work on social inequalities, displacement, and resistance.
My next research phase will focus on detailed case studies of three cities that exemplify different institutional pathways to becoming HCUNs. I'll be conducting fieldwork in these locations over the next twelve months, combining quantitative analysis of financial flows with qualitative research on institutional arrangements and urban governance.
Reflections on the Research Process
What strikes me most about this journey is how theoretical development rarely follows the neat, linear process often implied in published papers. The HCUN concept emerged through iterative cycles of reading, empirical observation, conceptual development, and critical reflection.
The concept of "institutional gravity" came not from systematic deduction but from a moment of insight while working with seemingly contradictory evidence. This messiness is rarely visible in final publications but reflects the reality of theoretical development.
As I move forward with this research, I hope to maintain this reflexive stance, allowing the theory to evolve as it encounters new evidence and perspectives. Research isn't about arriving at final answers but about developing more nuanced questions and frameworks that help us make sense of our complex world.
References
Aalbers, M.B. (2019) 'Financial geography II: Financial geographies of housing and real estate', Progress in Human Geography, 43(2), pp. 376-387.
Aalbers, M.B. (2020) Financial Markets and the Production of Urban Space. London: Routledge.
Atkinson, R. (2020) Alpha City: How London Was Captured by the Super-Rich. London: Verso.,
Friedmann, J. (1986) 'The world city hypothesis', Development and Change, 17(1), pp. 69-83.
Harvey, D. (1989) 'From managerialism to entrepreneurialism: the transformation in urban governance in late capitalism', Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 71(1), pp. 3-17.
Peck, J. and Tickell, A. (2002) 'Neoliberalizing space', Antipode, 34(3), pp. 380-404.
Sassen, S. (1991) The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Sassen, S. (2001) The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. 2nd edn. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Sassen, S. (2006) Cities in a World Economy. 3rd edn. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.
J.V., Smith, R.G. and Taylor, P.J. (1999) 'A roster of world cities', Cities, 16(6), pp. 445-458.
van Meeteren, M. and Bassens, D. (2016) 'World Cities and the Uneven Geographies of Financialization: Mapping FIRE Service Provision', Regional Studies, 50(5), pp. 785-800.