Linking race, the value of land and the value of life

This paper works to more fully integrate critical theories of race and privilege with political economy to explore the connections between segregation, property values and violence in US cities. Through the prism of Los Angeles (LA), it exposes the economic mechanisms and history of violent struggle by which whiteness became, and remains, an intrinsic component of high land values. The resulting articulations of racial ideologies and geography, connecting circuits of real estate capital to common sense and racialised constructions of ‘community’, have helped drive LA’s fragmented and unsustainable form and increasing privatisation. They also lie at the root of violence inflicted upon those excluded, both ideologically and physically, from white constructions of community. This dynamic is key for theorising in support of ongoing justice struggles to create safe and sustainable cities for all.