Rachel Weber, Professor of Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago
Where most accounts of the financialization of space critique the rentier but overlook the work of the forecasters and the calculative knowledge practices that inform property capital’s (dis)investment decisions, Weber sheds critical light on the professionals that produce knowledge for the investment funds that buy and sell commercial real estate.
The last half century has witnessed the proliferation of futuring techniques and data sources intended to steer property speculators toward potentially profitable opportunities.
Examining the recent restructuring of the property data and forecasting industry, Weber reveals the rise of a market structure around oligopolistic data cartels and considers the implications of this market concentration for asset pricing, urban development, and counterclaims of rights to the city.
Co-sponsored with the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative and the Department of City and Regional Planning.