Dirty Cities : Towards a Political Economy of the Underground in Global Cities

Over the last three decades, the rapid growth of transport and telecommunications systems and the expansion of transnational diasporas have intensified links between the urban spaces of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Increasing global mobility has fostered the development of ''informal'' trading networks in which diaspora communities play a central role. As a consequence, the shadow economies of societies with vastly different levels of prosperity have begun to come into contact with one another. While the economic consequences of diaspora trading networks have been extensively explored over the past few decades, the impact of globalization on the economic underground has received much less attention. This volume elaborates on the definition of globalization, on its impact on illegal and illicit activities, and on the role of the ''Global City'' as the intersection between the local and the global which allows for the empowerment of generally marginalized actors often through technological progress. The contributors explore the dark side of globalization, more specifically, the relations between globalization and the new dynamics of legal/illegal practices in urban settings of global cities.