ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the forces that shape land-use patterns in industrialized capitalist societies in which the allocation of land is accomplished primarily through the private market. It discusses effective socio-economic change that recognizes the tangible, material world of capitalist society and the question of socio-spatial practice as contingent, context-specific and self-structuring. The role of space in relation to society has always been the focus of urban planning as a practice. The chapter proposes the issue of valorization and draw on new work on the sociology of valuation to conceptualize and contextualize urban land development practices. It presents “an approach to valuation based on evaluation and valorization”, rather than engaging with the philosophical debate about value and values. The chapter demonstrates that any understanding of the development process requires a conceptualization and contextualization of value creation and value capture in urban property development and property markets and of their role in determining and buttressing contemporary urban spatial structure.
