Bio: (1935-) British geographer. David Harvey received his doctorate in geography in 1961 from the University of Cambridge. He has taught at several universities, most notably at Bristol University, Johns Hopkins University, and Oxford. In his work, Harvey combines geography, political economy, and sociology to create a modern, Marxist-inspired critique of capitalism and economic globalization. In his book Social Justice and the City (1973), he applies the principles of radical geography and Marxist political economy to explore cities and urbanism. Harvey believes that the urban-rural dichotomy is not identical to the division into modern and traditional. The same cities and life in them have differed throughout history, and in addition, different types of cities have existed within the same mode of production, just as there have been similar types of cities within different modes of production.

He believes that, therefore, when studying cities, it is better to use the term "mode of economic integration" instead of the term mode of production. The concept of mode of economic integration refers to how reciprocity, redistribution, and the market are interconnected within an economic system. When studying the modes of economic integration, the most important aspect is the surplus value that arises within the economy. Cities were created through extraction, mobilization, and geographical concentration of surplus value. Companies always influence the creation and functioning of markets, which are based on the relative rarity of goods and services. Exploitation and appropriation are inherent in the market, so government intervention is necessary to mitigate these destructive market tendencies.

The book Boundaries of Capital (1982) explores different flows of capital. Marx believed that there would be an excessive accumulation of capital in the industrial sector due to the increase in the organic composition of capital. Harvey believes that the concept of land rent is important for understanding the development of the industrial sector. Firms are building their industrial complexes in locations that will allow them to save on transportation costs or provide lower labor costs. Since these locations are mostly on private land, the increase in land rent, which is due to the increase in demand for land, reduces the early savings of companies. Over time, the profit rate in the industrial sector decreases, so capital moves from the primary (industrial) to the secondary flow of capital.

Secondary capital flows are funds that financial institutions invest in fixed capital. The secondary flow of capital is key to understanding urban growth under capitalism. Funds from this flow of capital are invested in the construction of residential and commercial buildings and traffic infrastructure in urban areas, so these investments are becoming a new form of fixed capital. Secondary capital flows also require the development of tertiary capital flows - in the fields of education, science, and technology - in order to increase or maintain profits in primary and secondary capital flows. Over time, the economic crisis spills over from the first to the second flow of capital, as real estate overproduction and depreciation of fixed capital occur. In such situations, banks and construction companies move their investments from those urban locations where the profit rate has been reduced to new locations that have the potential to bring in higher profits. The complex interrelationships of financial institutions, the construction sector, and the real estate market, which are motivated by the race for profit, create a dynamic system of urban development. Such a dynamic system of urban development always creates significant social consequences and new social geography.

Harvey's most famous and influential book is The Condition of Postmodernity (1989). In this book, he explores the consequences of the development of postfordism and new information technologies on the economy and culture. Postfordism has led to the flexibility of work, which is characterized by lower employment permanence, an increase in temporary and part-time jobs, a reduction in labor rights and benefits, and a reduction in the chances of obtaining pension and health insurance. Labor flexibility is associated with flexible accumulation - high structural unemployment, a large service sector, halting wage growth, and declining size and union influence. Flexible accumulation has led to what Harvey calls "space-time compression". This phrase signifies the change made possible by new communication and information technologies.

Postfordist labor relations and new technologies have enabled capital to make and implement investment and business decisions around the planet in a very short time. Capital can now produce specific products, coordinate diversified investments, reduce production and delivery times, and employ workers in flexible positions in the short term and globally. The computerization of financial markets and businesses, and the increased flow of information, money, goods, and people at the transnational level, are creating a global market for money, goods, and labor. In addition, industrial plants are moving to underdeveloped countries where all factors of production - land, raw materials, taxes, and labor - are more favorable for making more profit. Former farmers from underdeveloped countries are becoming industrial workers and consumers of capitalist goods.

Postmodern culture is also a consequence of these changes and it expresses the "cultural logic of late capitalism" (Jameson). The global increase in the availability and consumption of television, film, and other media content spreads the capitalist culture of consumerism to the entire planet. The global culture of consumerism creates new social identities and consumer styles that transcend national borders, but also class affiliation. The new global consumerist culture emphasizes the production of events and spectacles, in relation to the production of physical goods. Postmodernism celebrates ephemerality, spectacles, and the commodification of cultural forms.

In his books Spaces of Hope (2000), New Imperialism (2003), A Brief History of Neoliberalism (2005), Spaces of Global Capital: Towards a Theory of Unequal Economic Development (2006), and Rebel Cities (2012), Harvey continues to study the ways the development of global capitalism leads to unequal geographical development, but he also provides some insights into the possibility of changing and creating opposition to these processes.

Main works

Social Justice and the City (1973);                             

Limits to Capital (1982);

The Urbanization of Capital (1985);

Consciousness and the Urban Experience (1985);

The Condition of Postmodernity (1989);

Justice, Nature and the Geography of  Difference (1996);

Spaces of Hope (2000);

Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography (2001);

The New Imperialism (2003); 

A Brief History of Neoliberalism (2005);

Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development (2006);

Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution (2012);

Seventeen Contradictions and the End to Capitalism (2014);

Marx and Capital and the Madness of Economic Reason (2017);

The Anti-Capitalist Chronicles (2020).