*International Seminar “The Real Estate/Financial Complex”* *August 20-22, 2014*
*Leuven, Belgium* We have a few openings for speakers at this international seminar. If you’re admitted, there is no conference fee but there also will be no funding available for your expenses. We invite presentations that are related to the themes set out below. *Please contact me (m.b.aalbers at gmail dot com) asap and by June 22 at latest with a title, 100-250 word abstract and your position/affiliation.* *Seminar abstract* Real estate and finance were at the roots of the global economic crisis that started in 2007. States and their many institutions have also been seen as complicit to the crisis. The connections between real estate (including housing), finance and states remain under-researched and under-theorized. Various political economy traditions have looked into the connection between finance and states, but largely ignored real estate. The field of urban studies includes research on the interdependence of real estate and states, but finance is largely ignored. Moreover, this field is very micro focused, while the various political economy traditions are very macro focused. We not only need a stronger connection between finance and real estate, but also between different scales: local/urban, national and global. We here propose a new metaphor that can help us to centre attention on the interdependencies of real estate, finance and states: the real estate/financial complex, akin the military/industrial complex. The idea is not to introduce a new master concept but to understand the spatialities of contemporary capitalism and bring together a range of literatures including but not limited to: financialization, capital switching, varieties of capitalism, urban studies (e.g. global cities, property-led development, growth machines/coalitions, gentrification, asset-based welfare). *Keynote speaker abstract* *Why We Overbuild. And Why We’ll Do It Again.* *Rachel Weber, Department of Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago* At some point during the commercial building booms of the last century, the market for space came unhinged and supply outpaced occupant demand. What accounts for the tendency of real estate booms to continue long past their natural expiry? Why do booms so often become bubbles? Drawing from my soon-to-be-published book (University of Chicago Press), I discuss how capital markets and routine professional practices construct a nexus between global financial circuits and local assets that prevent supply and demand from calibrating. Specifically I examine the case of Chicago’s downtown office market during the Millennial Boom (1998-2008) – a market that added roughly 15 % new stock while office employment decreased by over 8 % during the same period. I find that the financial “innovations,” such as commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) and regulatory changes that boosted liquidity in global capital markets set off a chain reaction of new construction and building acquisitions that built up some commercial districts while depleting others of investment. Because finance cannot impose new spatial orders on its own, I also investigated the practices of intermediating actors such as local real estate brokers, investment advisors, and property appraisers. I found that these professionals helped construct occupant and investor demand for new products and shuffled tenants from marginally older buildings into new space. These actors were aided by the policies of the City of Chicago that provided tax and financial incentives for new building and tenant moves while simultaneously removing the detritus left over from prior waves of expansion. Once burst, this bubble left behind an overhang of unused office space. Although vacancies were lower in the new construction, they were crippling in the stock predating the boom whose occupants decamped for the new green-glass-and-steel towers. But even today, as the market struggles to absorb or eliminate the vacated space, new towers are being built and planned for Chicago’s Loop. The CMBS market is back with a vengeance, and acquisition prices have just hit a new high. Are we on the verge of another boom-bubble-bust cycle, and, if so, what is driving it? *This seminar is organized by Manuel B. Aalbers, Jannes van Loon and Gertjan Wijburg (all at KU Leuven/University of Leuven) and co-organized by David Bassens (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Ben Derudder (Ghent University) and co-funded by the European Research Council (ERC) project on the Real Estate/Financial Complex, the Arenberg Doctoral School (KU Leuven) and the Flemish Government. For details, please visit http://ees.kuleuven.be/refcom/ <http://ees.kuleuven.be/refcom/> * *-- * Manuel B. Aalbers, Ph.D. KU Leuven / University of Leuven Department of Geography Celestijnenlaan 200e -- bus 2409 3001 Heverlee Belgium http://ees.kuleuven.be/refcom
