"Hype works by inflating the promises of technological transformation to encourage new forms of emotional and material investment. At the same time, hype hides the existing and unequal relationships of land, labor, and property that shape digital transformations in particular geographies."
Hype is ubiquitous in today’s tech sector, where new digital devices are seen as a panacea to squeeze ever greater returns from real estate markets. How are digital tools actually remaking property relations around the world? In this short post for Institutional Landscapes (economic geographer Stefan Ouma's site), Associate Professor Desiree Fields, along with co-authors Hilary Faxon and Thomas Wainwright, introduce a special issue, just published in Environment and Planning D: Society & Space on this theme. The collection, co-edited by Fields, Faxon, and Wainwright, brings together scholars working in urban and rural landscapes to investigate how 21st century digital innovations are changing the development and commodification of land, housing, and property globally. The special issue also includes an article co-authored by Jovanna Rosen, a Geography BA alum.