Facteurs de mobilité ou mobilité des facteurs (de production) ? La mise en scène urbaine du capitalisme américain

Abstract

Intensive mobility of the factors of production (capital and work) is a major feature of the United States. Based on a geographical analysis, this paper describes the way in which the geographical mobility of capital (considered here as a driving force behind the reshaping of the American landscape) generates a process of both consumption and production of space. This approach aims at understanding how the mobility of capital is staged in urban spaces; such urban spaces are, by excellence, places of concentration and amalgamation of capital and work. The « drama » of the spatial mobility of capital and of its staging, which has unfolded throughout the history of the United States, falls into five « acts ». The present article will analyse these five acts from three different angles: from the perspective of technological and industrial engines, of spatial inscription, and eventually from that of the visual staging of capitalism. Nevertheless, the paper will begin with an explanation underlying our understanding of the spatial mobility of capital.

Keywords

• capitalism
• technology
• industrialization
• metropolises
• architecture