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What gets built and where? And who ends up living where in a given region? Urban geography and residential patterns in Los Angeles have long been shaped by the expansion and contraction of dominant industries—for example, housing patterns linked to rising and falling employment in the aeronautics industry post-WWII is well-known in our region.

This two-part educational series features a historically grounded investigation of how the rise of the so-called “Silicon Beach” (lauded by the corporate press as “the new tech hub in the country” & a “flourishing hub of innovative companies”) is impacting real estate valuation, rent-intensification, and displacement—ultimately transforming a series of neighborhoods from Oakwood to Inglewood.

Comrades are encouraged to review two recommended readings in advance of the second installment of this educational event, both of which are linked below. The event will feature a introductory presentation grounded in the underlying political & economic dimensions of the process of urban redevelopment and displacement linked to so-called “Silicon Beach” industries, followed by facilitated discussion designed to build and deepen our collective understanding of:

  • globalizing capitalism where real estate development, insurance, and finance serve as primary sources of capital accumulation; and

  • how to take steps toward decommodification through greater regulation of LA’s housing market to begin to ensure affordability and a right to the city for all.

Installment 2 Recommended readings:

  • How LA Keeps Coming Back: An 80-Year Overview of Real Estate Development (Commercial Cafe, 2020; 4 pages); This real estate blog provides a straightforward capitalist perspective on LA’s history of residential and commercial real estate development across neighborhoods—characterizing our city as one with “a history of overcoming various crises only to reinvent [itself] and attract new talent and investment.”

  • Unmaking the Real Estate State” excerpted chapter from Capital City (Stein, 2019, 18 pages); Grounded in a clear assessment of how the state uses and is used by capital (and the unaffordable consequences for working people), this chapter outlines a range of policy and political strategies to facilitate the transfer of private land to the public and drive structural changes in our urban political economy.

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