Beyond entrepreneurialism: revealing multiple logics of suburban housing development politics in the global city

There is a burgeoning literature in urban studies on the role of suburbs in the development of global cities. For too long, it is argued, suburbs have been marginalised within urban theory and research. At the same time, planning systems are increasingly driven by growth-centred arrangements that seek to boost private investment and convert complex places into development spaces. Such approaches are built on the experiences of urban centres and the market conditions found within them. Drawing on the London example, the paper develops existing work on global suburbanisms to identify the multiple logics and variable practices of housing policy and delivery that exist within global cities. It makes three contributions. First, it highlights the continuing significance of place-based representative local government in shaping suburban variability. Second, it develops a typology of political clusters to demonstrate the variables that shape the diversity of approaches to housing development policy and delivery that exist. And third, it analyses the interactions between physical landscapes and the rolling-out of market-led models and planning systems. Collectively, the paper points to a methodology for the analysis of suburban environments in cities beyond London, especially those in which political boundaries and physical environments act as a constraint on spatial expansion.