What is a City? Part two

What is a City?

Part 2

A UK city appears to be for the consumption and distribution of cash and resources. Cities are also a strategic place for the promotion of political prestige and power. The elite city makers, achieve both of these functions via the creation of profitable and political places within and through a spatial, capitalist ideology. Capitalist ideology therefore, culminates in the geographical form of cities. Cities, in this instance, can be understood as a solidified form and function of an ideological, capitalists’ thought process.

A City forms and functions, through capitalist thought process, by creating ‘spatial dynamics of world capitalism’ and in doing so puts into effect, physical geographical ‘ national’ boundaries for this aim.  For example, financial capital needs spaces to locate its institutions, financial head offices and production and service industries and ‘national based’ cities, cities appear to serve that purpose. Why? And How? Well, because global capital and national finance depends on a network of command posts. These command posts are situated in cities.  Cities, like London, in a place called the UK. For all the myth of virtual space and instant time, that ‘internet news’ and ‘virtual  global news networks’  create,  capitalist dynamic ideologies,  are  grounded in national geographies . London for example has a real geography, a real coastline and real people working for and existing within those borders. Neo liberal, ethnocentrism, has willing governmental actors to enforce these geographies.  London, in the UK has the right socio political environment to expand that capitalism politically and socially into.

 Politically the United Kingdom’s role in world affairs through institutions such as NATO the UN the  past G8 , the IMF and World Banking, systems have been  grounded in  one of the longest standing, financial and trade centres in the world, the Stock Market in  London City.  Therefore there would be little reason to assume that UK political actors, The Tory government for instance, would be against globalising strategies that restrict their space, slow down their financial accumulation and or disenfranchise their position as global political players.

 ‘Au contraire Mon ami’.  Why would a city lose its financial status if its sole aim is to reproduce finance?

Why?  Because London, for example, has complexity and diversity that a city status needs.  International business and population links spanning the globe with little or nearly no industry, high unemployment and degenerated work force. Therefore, little backlash from trade unions and communities tired of disenfranchisement in a franchised system called

‘CITY’.

Culture defines time and spaces and Cities currently define UK culture.