ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the complex, but indisputably significant, relationship between the property market and the urban economy. The stimulus for the work lies in the seemingly ever-accelerating process of urban economic change and the noticeable failure of existing studies to explore the pivotal role that the property market plays in the process. The book discusses the property market operation and its role in the process of urban economic development. It describes the conceptual underpinnings, methodological practices and critically assesses the deficiencies and limitations. The book talks about the processes, contextual trends and emerging patterns of urban socio-economic reorganization, identified by researchers independent of the methodological stance. It analyses the philosophical approach of critical realism, the ontological and epistemological underpinnings of the developed research programme. The book explores the relation between economic, property market outcomes and provides an in-depth institutional analysis of the market process.
