Building new cities in the Global South: Neoliberal planning and its adverse consequences

Abstract

Mushrooming new city developments have occurred in many developing countries in the past two decades, which generate profound socio-economic, environmental, and politico-institutional consequences. This article examines how neoliberal planning facilitates and shapes new city projects in the Global South. In particular, this article focuses on three key mechanisms of neoliberal planning that promote new cities: deregulation, authoritarian state intervention, and public-private partnerships (PPPs). The findings suggest that neoliberal planning has been widely employed as a critical tool in developing new cities across the Global South, which has generated detrimental consequences such as social exclusion and inequality, spatial fragmentation, and environmental deterioration. It also finds that deregulation, authoritarian state intervention, and PPPs can work hand in hand in complex and dynamic ways to foster new cities. Although this article does not argue that neoliberal planning is the only mechanism that facilitates new city building, pervasive and variegated neoliberal planning warrants further attention to the interactions between neoliberal planning and new city building. In addition, further research is needed to decipher how neoliberal planning coexists and interacts with non-neoliberal ideologies and practices in new city developments, which is critical for promoting sustainable development.