{"id":{"repo_id":"auckland-ms","oai_identifier":"oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/68461"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/auckland-ms/oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/68461","repository":{"repo_id":"auckland-ms","name":"University of Auckland","base_url":"https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Selling the Fringe: Financializing Strategies and the Collapse of Local Horticulture at the edge of Auckland, New Zealand","abstract":"This thesis draws from ethnographic fieldwork in Kumeu-Huapai, at the northwest of Auckland’s rapidly expanding urban periphery as well as existing research on urbanization in California, USA, and Victoria, Australia to examine how the profit-making strategies of property developers and landowners drastically reshapes work and life at the edge of cities. Some two-thirds of the world’s croplands are adjacent to urban centres, and the accelerating pace of urban sprawl across the planet places unprecedented pressure on the existence of these vital food bowl regions. To understand this conflict, I bring together Bourdieu’s analysis of the agents of the peri-urban housing market, Gudeman’s model of the financializing economy, and Harvey’s historical perspective on neoliberalism as the global restoration of financial power. With this theoretical context in mind, I argue that the supposedly intractable conflict between mitigating sprawl and providing housing for a growing urban population is extremely beneficial for financially-motivated parties specifically because of the ways it negatively affects the lives of others. To demonstrate this, I utilize analyses of land use policy, historical records, and physical patterns of development alongside participant observation of local events and interviews with government officials, property developers, landowners and local residents. I then point to alternative approaches to managing peri-urban development that already exist, offering solutions to the manifold social and ecological crises driven by urban sprawl. As real estate becomes the investment asset of last resort in an unstable global economy and climate change begins to materially affect the possibilities of life, the new suburban frontier is now one of our most immediate and important battlegrounds in confronting deepening inequality and adapting to a less predictable biosphere.","abstract_html":"This thesis draws from ethnographic fieldwork in Kumeu-Huapai, at the northwest of Auckland’s rapidly expanding urban periphery as well as existing research on urbanization in California, USA, and Victoria, Australia to examine how the profit-making strategies of property developers and landowners drastically reshapes work and life at the edge of cities. Some two-thirds of the world’s croplands are adjacent to urban centres, and the accelerating pace of urban sprawl across the planet places unprecedented pressure on the existence of these vital food bowl regions. To understand this conflict, I bring together Bourdieu’s analysis of the agents of the peri-urban housing market, Gudeman’s model of the financializing economy, and Harvey’s historical perspective on neoliberalism as the global restoration of financial power. With this theoretical context in mind, I argue that the supposedly intractable conflict between mitigating sprawl and providing housing for a growing urban population is extremely beneficial for financially-motivated parties specifically because of the ways it negatively affects the lives of others. To demonstrate this, I utilize analyses of land use policy, historical records, and physical patterns of development alongside participant observation of local events and interviews with government officials, property developers, landowners and local residents. I then point to alternative approaches to managing peri-urban development that already exist, offering solutions to the manifold social and ecological crises driven by urban sprawl. As real estate becomes the investment asset of last resort in an unstable global economy and climate change begins to materially affect the possibilities of life, the new suburban frontier is now one of our most immediate and important battlegrounds in confronting deepening inequality and adapting to a less predictable biosphere.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Richardson, Benjamin Felix"],"institution":"ResearchSpace@Auckland","degree_name":"PhD","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"Anthropology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Busse, Mark","Sharp, Emma"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023","date_published":"2023","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:06:10Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":["Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated."],"rights_urls":["https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2292/68461","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Busse, Mark","Sharp, Emma"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Richardson, Benjamin Felix"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2024-05-20T20:38:23Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-05-20T20:38:23Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["ResearchSpace@Auckland"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Anthropology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["PhD"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The University of Auckland"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2292/68461"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis draws from ethnographic fieldwork in Kumeu-Huapai, at the northwest of Auckland’s rapidly expanding urban periphery as well as existing research on urbanization in California, USA, and Victoria, Australia to examine how the profit-making strategies of property developers and landowners drastically reshapes work and life at the edge of cities. Some two-thirds of the world’s croplands are adjacent to urban centres, and the accelerating pace of urban sprawl across the planet places unprecedented pressure on the existence of these vital food bowl regions. To understand this conflict, I bring together Bourdieu’s analysis of the agents of the peri-urban housing market, Gudeman’s model of the financializing economy, and Harvey’s historical perspective on neoliberalism as the global restoration of financial power. With this theoretical context in mind, I argue that the supposedly intractable conflict between mitigating sprawl and providing housing for a growing urban population is extremely beneficial for financially-motivated parties specifically because of the ways it negatively affects the lives of others. To demonstrate this, I utilize analyses of land use policy, historical records, and physical patterns of development alongside participant observation of local events and interviews with government officials, property developers, landowners and local residents. I then point to alternative approaches to managing peri-urban development that already exist, offering solutions to the manifold social and ecological crises driven by urban sprawl. As real estate becomes the investment asset of last resort in an unstable global economy and climate change begins to materially affect the possibilities of life, the new suburban frontier is now one of our most immediate and important battlegrounds in confronting deepening inequality and adapting to a less predictable biosphere."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Selling the Fringe: Financializing Strategies and the Collapse of Local Horticulture at the edge of Auckland, New Zealand"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Busse, Mark","Sharp, Emma"],"dc:creator":["Richardson, Benjamin Felix"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2024-05-20T20:38:23Z"],"dc:date.available":["2024-05-20T20:38:23Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis draws from ethnographic fieldwork in Kumeu-Huapai, at the northwest of Auckland’s rapidly expanding urban periphery as well as existing research on urbanization in California, USA, and Victoria, Australia to examine how the profit-making strategies of property developers and landowners drastically reshapes work and life at the edge of cities. Some two-thirds of the world’s croplands are adjacent to urban centres, and the accelerating pace of urban sprawl across the planet places unprecedented pressure on the existence of these vital food bowl regions. To understand this conflict, I bring together Bourdieu’s analysis of the agents of the peri-urban housing market, Gudeman’s model of the financializing economy, and Harvey’s historical perspective on neoliberalism as the global restoration of financial power. With this theoretical context in mind, I argue that the supposedly intractable conflict between mitigating sprawl and providing housing for a growing urban population is extremely beneficial for financially-motivated parties specifically because of the ways it negatively affects the lives of others. To demonstrate this, I utilize analyses of land use policy, historical records, and physical patterns of development alongside participant observation of local events and interviews with government officials, property developers, landowners and local residents. I then point to alternative approaches to managing peri-urban development that already exist, offering solutions to the manifold social and ecological crises driven by urban sprawl. As real estate becomes the investment asset of last resort in an unstable global economy and climate change begins to materially affect the possibilities of life, the new suburban frontier is now one of our most immediate and important battlegrounds in confronting deepening inequality and adapting to a less predictable biosphere."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/2292/68461"],"dc:publisher":["ResearchSpace@Auckland"],"dc:rights":["Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated."],"dc:rights.uri":["https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm"],"dc:title":["Selling the Fringe: Financializing Strategies and the Collapse of Local Horticulture at the edge of Auckland, New Zealand"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Anthropology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["PhD"],"thesis:institution_name":["The University of Auckland"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:06:10Z"}