City-marketing policy as generator of urban discontent

Abstract

“Neoliberalism is a hypermarketized style of governance (i.e. government through and by the market)” (Weber, 2002, p. 520). Under the hegemony of neoliberal-globalism, the entrepreneurial state has largely deployed market-oriented policies including city-marketing to attract flows of people and investment from the global market (Brenner, 2004; MacLeod, 2011; Madureira, 2014; Peck, Theodore, & Brenner, 2009). According to Deleuze and Guattari (2009), these flows of capital and people are vital for the capitalist city existence and its functions, particularly its constant economic growth. These neoliberal policies, including city-marketing, generally promise, or fantasize, further enjoyment to their residents, local/international investors and new arrivals, including tourists, expats and labours (Dovey, Woodcock, & Wood, 2009; Gunder, 2010).