Urban speculation for survival: Adaptations and negotiations in Forest City, Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia is estimated to be one of the four largest recipients of Chinese Belt and Road Initiative investment worldwide, with China surpassing Singapore to become the largest foreign investor in Malaysia in 2016. Chinese investment in Malaysia consists largely of top-down urban mega-developments, many of which are built on reclaimed land and have faced significant criticism from locals, media, environmentalists, and politicians for their audacious plans, exclusive nature, and disregard for local people and ecosystems. Using Forest City as a case study, this paper introduces the concept of urban speculation for survival to elaborate on how – beyond their initial planning and financing – foreign-owned, master-planned megaprojects involve continual speculation as they navigate shifting political contexts and economic challenges. Specifically, we outline three main phases to the new city’s development and investigate how its marketing and identity have evolved over time in response to mounting criticism and shortfalls in sales. Situating Forest City within the trend of speculative urbanism, we demonstrate how – rather than being monolithic – the outcomes of top-down Chinese investment and mega-development in a much smaller Southeast Asian country simultaneously shape and are shaped by local and transnational economic, political, and social dynamics, as corporate Chinese actors are forced to negotiate and compromise on their ambitious overseas ventures.

Staging the New City: Urban spectacles and the ecological origins of Nayib Bukele's authoritarian populism

“…From Dubai to Malaysia, research on urban spectacles shows how the affective power of real estate aesthetics and its role in the production of late capitalist imaginaries entangle with increasingly authoritarian and kleptocratic state-building projects (Avery & Moser, 2022;Davidson, 2008;Nonini, 2021;Rethel, 2018). In this article, I examine the latter process in relation to the rise of Nayib Bukele's authoritarian populism in El Salvador.…”

“…In addition to its economic dimensions, the spectacularization of cities—understood as a cultural phenomenon within the broader process of real estate financialization (Aalbers, 2019; Rolnik, 2019)—has recently been analyzed for its political effects. From Dubai to Malaysia, research on urban spectacles shows how the affective power of real estate aesthetics and its role in the production of late capitalist imaginaries entangle with increasingly authoritarian and kleptocratic state‐building projects (Avery & Moser, 2022; Davidson, 2008; Nonini, 2021; Rethel, 2018). In this article, I examine the latter process in relation to the rise of Nayib Bukele's authoritarian populism in El Salvador.…”

“…It also connects with the literature on global city projects, carried out by scholars working with the framework of speculative urbanism (Goldman, 2011; Leitner & Sheppard, 2023), and that of urban extractivism (Sassen, 2018; Streule, 2023; Svampa & Viale, 2014), which juxtaposes the exuberant look of real estate with its overwhelmingly violent and destructive character. In all of these cases, there is an emerging interest on multi‐scalar approaches to real estate that connect city spectacles with processes of rural dispossession (Gascón, 2016; Goldman, 2020), socio‐ecological transformations (Colven, 2022; Goldman & Narayan, 2019), and the instrumentalization of urban development by domestic elites and their state‐building projects (Avery & Moser, 2022; Nonini, 2021). My research situates at the intersection of these avenues of investigation by exploring the ecological underpinnings of an authoritarian populist urban spectacle.…”

Interaction between islands and special economic zones: Spatial processes of containment and exclusion

“…Forest City, which is designed to attract foreign direct investment and benefit corporate and Malaysian state investors, combines exclusive infrastructure, smart eco-city branding, and tax and other regulatory benefits (Moser, 2018). Initially aimed specifically at ethnic Chinese investors and residents, Forest City has been accused of favouring elite interests and increasingly markets itself as both more Malaysian and more broadly international (Avery & Moser, 2022). Island boundedness enhances Forest City's ability to contain regulatory, infrastructural and services exception for a wealthy elite while excluding wider demands for equity and wellbeing.…”

Analysing a private city being built from scratch through a social and environmental justice framework: A research agenda

“…The initial conceptualisation of Forest City took place among elites behind closed doors, skirting, or perhaps more accurately, ignoring local laws, and proceeding at such a fast pace that nearby residents and environmental groups were unable to mount an opposition of any significance (Avery and Moser, 2023a). As in other contexts of urban megadevelopments in other parts of the world, speed is a key strategy to expedite construction processes and bypass modes of regulation (Coˆte´- Roy and Moser, 2023;Cugurullo, 2017;Datta, 2017;Datta and Shaban, 2017).…”