ABSTRACT
The Petropolis, or the hyper-modern oil city in the Global South dependent on or shaped by oil, is increasingly becoming central to the global economy. How the Petropolis is governed, the resulting outcomes for society, economy, and environment, and alternatives to the status quo, must, therefore, be carefully analysed. While resource entrepreneurialism, defended by neoclassical, public choice, and new institutional economists, has been presented and imposed as the only effective way of governing the Petropolis, existing evidence shows that it is deeply problematic, often generating substantial social costs. Resource developmentalism is sometimes proposed as an alternative, but it is typically top-down, wasteful, and stagflationary. Resource commoning offers a third option which enables resource sovereignty. This has become a central demand of urban social movements in the Global South, and is fundamental to transcending the current crises in governing the Petropolis.
