ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 focusses on theoretical discussions that contribute to understanding the politics of cultural economy in connection to memory and urban development. It carries out a critical review of previous studies that have failed to recognise how the tension between culture and economy, and more specifically between memorialisation and urban development, provokes a diversity of desires for political identity and economic growth. It focusses on the concept of ‘the politics of cultural economy,’ a process of place-making for memory and urban growth, especially in the context of state-led urban boosterism in Asia. The chapter also discusses how those desires interrelate in place-making for memory-relevant places and links the discussion of cultural economy to dark tourism.
