ABSTRACT
Despite the economic and social advances of the post-war era, seen in increased life expectancy, a reduction in the proportion of the world’s population facing hunger and life-threatening deprivation, and increased access to health-care and education, poverty remains a major problem for a significant proportion of the population in most countries in the contemporary world. At the heart of this dilemma is the uneven distribution of the world’s resources. Uneven development is an inherent characteristic of capitalism that stems from the propensity of capital to flow to locations that offer the greatest potential return. The differential use of space by capital in pursuit of profit creates a mosaic of inequality at all geographic scales from global to local. Consequently, at any one time certain countries, regions, cities and localities will be in the throes of decline as a result of the retreat of capital investment, while others will be experiencing the impact of capital inflows.
