The great wager: crisis and mega-project reform in 21st-century Paris

Abstract

This article explores the dialectics of austerity and growth through contemporary urban mega-projects. In particular it considers the relationship of the Grand Paris regional development initiative to a climate of crisis. The argument put forth is that in times of fiscal stress, the state is incentivised to invest in urban services like transportation with a potential to impel economic growth. The most recent global financial crisis of 2008 brings to light contradictions within this model of austerity-growth, but the imperative of urban mega-projects reform arises out of more permanent shifts in global urbanisation from the 1970s onward.