The "bad banks" and the resolution of the financial-real state crisis in Europe

This article focuses on Asset Management Companies (AMCs), or 'bad banks', which are established by governments to acquire and manage non-performing assets, often linked to real estate, in the wake of systemic banking crises. The article looks at AMCs which have been established within Europe as part of member state and European institution responses to the baking crisis. The article analyses AMCs through four lenses to capture their distinctly urban dimensions. Firstly AMCs continue the financialized extraction of value from urban space. Secondly, they act as 'market makers' by restoring the 'liquidity' of real estate. Thirdly they contribute to the globalization of real estate by intensifying the circuits linking local real estate with global pools of capital. Fourthly they generate political contestation around access to and control of urban space.