Commodification and Commodity Status in Master Planned Estates: Insights into the Processes of New Urban Developments

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the processes of commodification and commodity status under contemporary political economic conditions. The overall aim is to theorise commodification as a distinct dimension of new urban developments and to explore the geographical basis of the spatial and social issues that emerge from the commodity status of master planned estates (MPEs). A commodity circuit model is developed by establishing the connection between capital, society and meaning, and applied to case studies of two MPEs, Murrays Beach and Sanctuary, in the Lower Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. The model provided insights into the commodity status of MPEs in relation to labour power, production as value adding change, the driving motivations and the two-way relationship between production and consumption. Four key phases of commodity existance were identified: Pre-production accounts for the process of commodification by establishing the fundamental basis of why the land should be developed for a particular use. Discursive production largely involves discursive labour processes that show how land can be developed, and locks in a particular conceived space as socially meaningful. Material production involves the actual physical transformation through socially accepted mechanisms for ensuring that the commodity actually exists and performs to expectations. The patterns of consumption are scripted into the MPE through building design codes and community building activities to support the developer’s vision. Overall, the model shows how land development is both a linear process of emergence and a circuitous process associated with flows of finance, meaning and value.