capitalism/accumulation…connection/segregation

from Pier Vittorio Aureli’s contribution to Log 11:

The enclave can be understood as a direct consequence of the economic mastery of capitalist accumulation, because capitalism always connects and integrates the urban territory when it must absorb, exploit, control, and organize labor and transform it into profit; but it always segregates when it comes time to accumulate and distribute that profit.

spectacularization of urban spaces

interesting article by Anouk Bélanger on the Canadiens move from the Forum to the Molson Centre (now called Bell Centre), here is the abstract (link):

As global corporations scan the world for preferential locations, particular places are forced into a competitive race to attract inward investors. All of this is leading to increased global inter-urban competition around entertainment industries, where cities must reimage and reimagine themselves in order to position themselves as `world-class’. Sports stadiums and other complexes have become increasingly important in this dynamic. In this article, the shift in sports venue from the Montreal Forum to the Molson Centre is examined as a means to explore a variety of issues: the privatization and spectacularization of urban spaces, the local customization of those developments through a marketing of nostalgia, the increasing importance of sport teams and venues in investment in civic images and infrastructure.