The Shared Space
Subtitle: the Two Circuits of the Urban Economy in Underdeveloped Countries
By: Milton Santos
Edition: First edition.
Series: Routledge Library Editions: Urban and Regional Economics; Routledge Library Editions: Urban and Regional Economics -- Volume 21
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 276
ISBN-13: 9781315103105
Subjects: Urbanization; Economic conditions; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS; Economics; General; Reference; Economic history
Notes: "Originally published in 1979. In this forcefully argued book, Milton Santos shows that contemporary explanations of urbanization and spatial organization in underdeveloped countries are inadequate. This failure is attributable to their origins in theories elaborated to explain the development of advanced Western societies. Santos' work provides the basis for the new theory which is so badly needed. He describes the urban economy in these countries in terms of two circuits of activity - an upper circuit consisting of those enterprises and structures which are based on modern technology and are oriented towards the advanced capitalist world, and a lower circuit comprised of more traditional processes and forms of exchange. The dialectical interaction of these two circuits is seen to generate the patterns of growth, forms of State intervention and, above all, the spatial organization characteristic of Third World economies. This was a revision and translation of L'Espace Partagé (1975)."--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: Cover; Half Title Page; Title Page; Copyright Page; Original Title Page; Original Copyright Page; Contents; Preface; PART I; 1 Towards a new paradigm; National planning with immature theories; Underdevelopment: the historical context; The spatial characteristics of underdevelopment; Two circuits; The lower circuit; 2 The two circuits of the urban economy: evolution and characteristics; Historical periods and systems; Technological modernization and the evolution ofthe two circuits; The two circuits: composition; The two circuits: characteristics; Three classes; title: two circuits.; title: Polarization, not dualism3 The colonial urban economy: two circuits?; The ghetto and the lower circuit; Shantytowns and the lower circuit; The contemporary nature of the two circuits; PART II; 4 The upper circuit; The import motive; Import-substitution industry; Export industries; The marginal upper circuit; Modern retailing; Foreign capital; The mediating role of the banks; The multinational corporation and dependency; The consequences of dependency; 5 The State and the upper circuit; Concentration and the monopolies; The characteristics and consequences of monopoly power.; title: Monopoly in a Third World contextThird World industrialization and development policy; The State and the upper circuit; State bankruptcy, mass poverty and economic backwardness; PART III; 6 Third World poverty and the lower circuit; Unequal wages and the creation of a middle class; Non-employment, underemployment and tertiarization; Modernization, poverty, and the lower circuit; 7 The nature of lower circuit employment; A tertiary sector?; The lower circuit and small industry; Employment in the lower circuit; Lower circuit: entry requirements; Small-scale activities.; title: 8 The financial mechanism of the lower circuitDependence on middlemen (wholesalers and transporters); The importance of liquidity in the lower circuit; From credit to indebtedness; Profit margins; Price mechanisms; 9 Adaptability and rationality in the lower circuit; The hypertrophic nature of the lower circuit; Lower circuit adaptability to a changing economic climate; Productivity, dynamism and rationality; The rationality of the lower circuit; 10 Inter-circuit relations and the parameters of growth; Variables specific to each circuit; Variables common to both circuits; PART IV.; title: 11 Monopoly, the State and macrospatial organizationThe two circuits and geographical analysis: A macrospatial perspective; Complete and partial metropolises; Integration and spatial reorganization; Regional inequalities and internal colonialism; Migration and spatial structure; Cumulative concentration and macrocephalous urbanization; Metropolises and intermediate cities; The marginal upper circuit; 12 The shared space; Industrialization processes and urbanization tendencies; The urbanization process and its constituent subsystems; The two circuits and the urban system.