New Geographies of Spectacle and Speculation: Examining actors and networks in urban development

Abstract

Over the past two decades, investors from the Gulf have undertaken numerous urban development initiatives within the South Caucasus and Central Asia, ranging tremendously in scale and geographic spread. These include everything from waterfront resort complexes to deep seaports. As foreign officials seek to diversify their country’s economic portfolios and geographies of influence, such initiatives raise broader questions about the degree to which the influx of capital is accompanied by politics and diplomacy. This research begins to address these questions by tracking key Emirati urban developments in the region. Drawing from content analysis and cross-case comparisons, we show how approaches to urban development established elsewhere are now being imported and entangled with local processes of urban governance. We argue that to fully understand the emerging geographies of real estate spectacle and speculation, it is necessary to first zoom out and consider these wider scales of foreign engagement. This topic is significant because spectacular megaprojects have long served nation-building, urban renewal, and investment speculation. Amid the intensified global mobility of capital, policies, and imaginaries, states embrace ambitious proposals financed from outside to symbolize prosperity, leading to increasingly ostentatious and technologically sophisticated designs. While some projects materialize, others remain purely aspirational, too extravagant and costly to build, yet still valuable as symbolic capital. Despite their unfinished status, these projects have influenced local urban identities, public discourse, and the international perceptions of their respective countries. While foreign-funded urban development projects undoubtedly serve foreign interests, their outcomes are not exclusively foreign-determined; local actors retain avenues of influence. Complex institutional structures, popular protests, and political-economic relationships critically shape outcomes. Therefore, examining the various actors and networks offers a useful angle for more deeply assessing such aspirational urban development.