Where Materiality Meets Subjectivity
This chapter examines two interrelated practices integral to the construction of urban land as a fictitious commodity in the redevelopment of Camden, New Jersey. It begins with the process of rule making which establishes an institutional structure that makes Camden's land available for middle-class investment while displacing existing residents who are constructed as a deterrent to a resurgent land market. The chapter then reviews how the successful performance of the urban land market necessitated the alignment of actors' subjectivities such that they are willing and capable of performing the roles required for the redevelopment process to achieve its objectives. These interrelated practices locate the urban political in the highly contested domain in which the materiality of urban land meets urban subjectivity in the performance of the land market. Ultimately, the chapter traces the unfolding of the double movement through three interrelated moments of political contestation over its form and content: in the construction of land as an investable commodity; in the countermovement against displacement attendant on proposed redevelopment; and in constructing the subjects whose self-governance enacts the land market in Camden.