Working Capital: Life and Labour in Contemporary London

The turn-of-the-century has seen a fundamental change in attitudes to major cities, heralding the arrival of a new urban area. For decades the cities of the developed world were seen as problem beset relics from Times of availability and slow communications. But now, their potential to sustain creativity, culture and global innovation is perceived as crucial to success in a much more competitive global economy. This book provides a rigorous but accessible analysis of these key issues taking London as its test case. London is the most internationalized and deregulated of all major cities, but also exhibits both a sharp economic turnaround and increasingly concentrated deprivation. The book provides the first substantial analysis of ley economic, social and structural issues that the new London administration faces. In a wider context, its critical assessment of the basis of the new urbanism and of the global City thesis will raise questions both about the adequacy of Urban thinking and about the capacityof new institutions alone to resolve the fundamental problems faced by cities.