Fourteenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

The changes in urban planning under the money of neoliberalism have had an important impact on planning. From the post-Marxian point of view, the profound impact of changes in planning policies under neoliberalism is the main inherent contradiction of capitalism: exchange value replaces use value. The main aim of housing provision in capitalist societies is to obtain exchange value rather than to provide use value. Due to the dominant role of exchange value in the housing provision, access to affordable housing for an increasing segment of the population has become more difficult. In this research, I attempt to demonstrate that the preeminent role of exchange value in Auckland’s housing provision is the main cause of housing affordability issues. In doing so, I have drawn on the post-Marxian approach and utilised insights from David Harvey’s theory of use and exchange value. By adopting a discursive interpretation of Harvey’s ‘theory of use and exchange value,’ this study demonstrated that the shift to neoliberal planning policies and the subsequent reforms in housing policy perpetuated the housing affordability issue in Auckland. This study found that under neoliberal planning policies, exchange value maximisation has become the primary objective of housing provision in Auckland. This exchange value consideration, the speculative nature of housing construction, and the focus on generating surplus value have contributed to the increasing unaffordability of housing in Auckland.