Interests
California, economic geography, suburbanization, urban landscape, global urbanization, conservation and environmental justice in Northern California, the logic of capitalism, value and rent theory
Contact Information
(510) 525-1969
Biography
Richard Walker’s research covers a broad range of fields in human geography. Walker is well known for his work in economic geography, especially The Capitalist Imperative: Territory, Technology and Industrial Growth (Blackwell, 1989), one of the most cited books in the field. His work as an urban geographer stretches from a dissertation and early articles on suburbanization through essays on the urban landscape to recent debates over the origins of cities and global urbanization. He began his career writing about environmental issues and came back to the subject with his definitive history of the conservation and environmental justice in Northern California, The Country in the City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area (University of Washington Press, 2007).
Professor Walker is a widely recognized expert on California, a major economic, political and cultural hearth of world capitalism. He has explored the state’s economic development, natural resources, racial conflict and political upheavals. He has published a history of the state’s astonishing agricultural system, The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California (New Press, 2004) and an Atlas of California: Facing the Challenges of a New Era (University of California Press, 2013). A new book on the San Francisco Bay area is in press: Pictures of a Gone City: Tech and the Dark Side of Prosperity in the San Francisco Bay Area(link is external)
An enduring thread of Professor Walker’s thought is the logic of capitalism as an economic, political and social system, and its geographical evolution. Works in this vein stretch from early writing on value and rent theory through The New Social Economy: Reworking the Division of Labor (Blackwell, 1992) to recent articles on the financial crisis and Great Recession of the 2000s.
Walker is a celebrated teacher and advisor, and many of his former students hold teaching post around the country and overseas. He served five years as Department Chair, 1994-99, helping to re-shape Berkeley Geography. He edited the journal Antipode throughout the 1990s and was Chair of the California Studies Association in the 2000s. He has also been an activist in public affairs and on campus, fighting against such monstrosities as the Peripheral Canal, the Gulf War, and the Patriot Act. He takes great joy in the arts of gardening, singing and photography, among virtues not listed on the official CV.
Walker retired in 2012 after almost 40 years at UCB. He now splits time between Berkeley and Burgundy.
As a retiree, Walker does not update his CV anymore – but he does update this website and his recent articles and books are listed here (with pdfs for all articles and book chapters).
Books
Articles
2017
120) The island at the center of the bay. In: Lynne Horiuchi and Sanu Tankala, Eds. Urban Reinventions: San Francisco’s Treasure Island University of Hawaii Press. (in press)
119) Value and nature: rethinking capitalist exploitation and expansion.Capitalism, Nature, Socialism. Vol. 28/1: 53-61
2016
118) Schoenberger, Erica and Richard Walker, 2016. Beyond exchange and agglomeration: resource flows and city environments as wellsprings of urban growth. Journal of Economic Geography. online publication: 1-24. (Print copy 2018?)
117) Why Cities? International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 40/1: 164-180. (a critique of Scott & Storper’s “The Nature of Cities” in IJURR (2014)
116) Value and nature: From value theory to the fate of the earth. Human Geography. 9 (1): 1-15.
115) Capital versus the commons. IN: Cal Winslow, Ed. River of Fire: Commons, Crisis and the Imagination Arlington MA: Pumping Station Press. pp. 125-37.
114) Do you believe in life after love? In: Ghazi Falah, Ed. Forum on Everyday Life of the Retired Geographer, Arab World Geographer. 19/1-2: 136-40.
113) Why is there a housing crisis?(link is external) East Bay Express. March 23, p. 4.
112) Review of Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital.(link is external) The AAG Review of Books, 4/1: 10-11
111) The transatlantic world and the problem of geography. IN: Newsletter of the Transatlantic Study Association, January. pp. 11-16.
2015
110) Economic Geography, Then and Now. In: Heather Merrill and Lisa Hoffman, eds. Spaces of Danger: Culture and Power in the Everyday Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. pp. 135-151. (on Allan Pred’s early work in urban economic geography)
109) Building a better theory of the urban: A response to ‘Towards a new epistemology of the urban?’ City. 19(2-3): 183-91. (a critique of N. Brenner & C. Schmid)
108) The strange case of the Bay Area. Environment and Planning A. 47/1: 10-29. (with Alex Schafran)
2014
107) Review of Alex Loftus, Everyday Environmentalism: Creating an Urban Political Economy. University of Minnesota Press. Cultural Geographies, 21/2: pp. 314-16.
2013
106) The Presidio forest. Commentary for SECA 2012 Art Awards, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. October 15. http://blog.sfmoma.org/2013/10/seca-2012-richard-walker/(link is external)
105) The two Karls, or reflections on Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation.Environment and Planning A. 45: pp. 1662-70.
104) Why write books? Regional Studies. 47/9, pp 1607-09.
2012
103) Geography in economy: reflections on a field. In: Trevor Barnes, Jamie Peck and Eric Sheppard, eds. Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Economic Geography. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 47-60.
2011
102) California shrugged: The fountainhead of the Great Recession. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society. 4(3): 303-22.
101) California’s golden road to riches: natural resources and regional capitalism, 1848-1940. Reprinted in: Derek Gregory and Noel Castree, eds. Human Geography (Fundamentals of Geography). Sage Publications. Vol 4: 281-340. (reprinted from Annals of the Association of American Geographers.91(1)[2001]: 167-99).
100) Genèse d’une ville verte: urbanisation et environnementalisme dans la métropole de San Francisco. In: François Bost & Sylvie Daviet, eds. Entreprises et Environment: Quels Enjeux Pour Le Développement Durable?Nanterre: Presses Universitaires de Paris Ouest.
99) On the edge of environmental history. In: Kimberly Coulter and Christof Mauch, eds. Environmental History: Needs and Opportunities, Rachel Carson Center Perspectives, Issue 3: 48-52.
98) Rethinking money and finance capital. 2011. Rethinking Capitalism Newsletter. 2: pp. 15-21. (original paper attached, not shorter published version)
2010
97) Green women and green spaces. In: Rebecca Solnit, Ed. Infinite City: An Atlas of San Francisco and the Bay Area. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 20-22
96) The Golden State adrift, New Left Review. Nov-Dec. 66: pp. 5-30.
95) The Living New Deal: The Unsung Benefits of the New Deal for the United States and California, Working Paper Series, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, UC Berkeley.
94) Blinded by history: The geographic dimension in society and environment, In: Douglas Sackman, ed. A Companion to Environmental History. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 553-77.
93) California, Pivot of the Great Recession, Working Paper (see Bardhan & Walker, 2011)
92) Karl Marx between two worlds: The antinomies of Giovanni Arrighi’s Adam Smith in Beijing, Historical Materialism, 18, pp. 52-73.
2009
91) The lungs of the city: 75 years and counting for the East Bay Parks, Bay Nature, October-December, pp. 18-22.
2008
90) At the crossroads: defining California through the global economy. IN: David Igler and William Denevan, eds. A Companion to California History. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 75-96.
89) Human-environment relations. (Editor’s Intro to 1979 Antipode Special Issue). IN: Bauder, Harald and Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro (eds.). Critical Geographies: A Collection of Readings. Praxis (e)Press. 322-46. (reprinted with minor revisions)
88) In Memoriam: Allan Pred, 1936-2007: reflections on a life. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 98(2): 487-93. (with Michael Watts)
87) San Francisco’s haymarket: a redemptive tale of class struggle. ACME: Online Journal of Geography. 7/1: 45-58.
2007
86) The Chinese road: cities in the transition to capitalism. New Left Review, 46: 39-66. (with Daniel Buck)
85)Allan Pred: scholar, teacher & rebel, Progress in Human Geography, 31(6): 813-815. (with Michael Watts)
84) The sands of San Francisco. AAG Newsletter, Oct. 2006, p 1, 4
83) Allan Pred: Friend & Rebel, for Antipode, 39(2): 388-92. (with Michael Watts)
82) My days at the helm of the good ship Antipode. Antipode online, (recollections of former editors).
2006
81) Teaching (political) economic geography: some personal reflections. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. 30/3: 427-37.
80) The education of an economic geographer. IN: Helen Lawton-Smith and Sharmistha Bagchi-Chen, eds. The Past, Present and Future of Economic Geography. London: Routledge. 103-11.
79) The boom and the bombshell: the New Economy bubble and the San Francisco Bay Area, in Giovanna Vertova, ed., The Changing Economic Geography of Globalization. London: Routledge. 121-47.
2004
78a) The power of place and space. Race, Poverty & The Environment. 11/1:7-8
78) Industry builds out the city: Industrial decentralization in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1850-1950. In Robert Lewis, ed. Manufacturing Suburbs: Building Work and Home on the Metropolitan Fringe. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. (revised version of 2001 article) (as pdf)(link is external)
77) The spectre of Marxism: The return of The Limits to Capital. Antipode(June) 36:3.
76) Crimes of the Continental Op: On reading Joe Nevins’ Operation Gatekeeper. Antipode (January) 36/1: 156-62.
2001
75) A hidden geography. IN: Richard Misrach, The Golden Gate. Santa Fe: Arena Editions. 145-58.
74) Growing surpluses, dwindling politics: Bluestone and Harrison’s Growing Prosperity. Antipode. 33/1: 90-100.
73) Bennett Harrison: A life worth living. Antipode. 33/1: 34-38.
72) California’s golden road to riches: natural resources and regional capitalism, 1848-1940. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 91(1): 167-99.
71) Industry builds the city: industrial decentralization in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1850-1940. Journal of Historical Geography. 27/1: 36-57. (for a revised version see #78 above)
70) Beyond the crabgrass frontier: industry and the spread of North American cities, 1850-1950 (with Robert Lewis) Journal of Historical Geography, 27/1: 3-19. Reprinted in Robert Lewis, Ed. Manufacturing Suburbs: Building Work and Home on the Metropolitan Fringe. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
2000
69) The geography of production. In: Eric Sheppard and Trevor Barnes, eds. Companion to Economic Geography. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 113-32.
68) Capitalism’s recurrent self-criticism: an evaluation of Bob Brenner’s Origins of Global Turbulence. Historical Materialism. 5: 179-210.
1999
67) Putting capital in its place: globalization and the prospects for labor.Geoforum. 30/3: 263-84.
66) Capital’s global turbulence. Against the Current, 78, January-February: 29-35.
1998
65) Foreward to Andrew Herod, ed. Organizing the Landscape: Geographical Perspectives on Labor Unionism. University of Minnesota Press, pp. xi-xvii
64) An appetite for the city. In: James Brook, Chris Carlsson and Nancy Peters, eds. Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture. San Francisco: City Lights Books. pp. 1-20.
1997
63) Unseen and disbelieved: A political economist among cultural geographersIN: P. Groth and T. Bressi, eds., Understanding Ordinary Landscapes. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 162-173.
62) California rages: regional capitalism and the politics of renewal. IN: Roger Lee and Jane Wills, eds., Geographies of Economies. London: Edward Arnold, pp. 345-356.
61) Field of dreams, or the best game in town. In: Michael Watts and David Goodman, eds. Globalising Food: Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring. London: Routledge, pp. 273-284.
60) For Better or Worcester: Reflections on Gender, Work and Space. For Symposium on Susan Hanson and Geraldine Pratt, Gender, Work and Space,Antipode, 29/1, pp. 329-337.
1996
59) California’s collision of race and class, Representations, No. 55, 163-183, Summer.
58) Reprinted in: Robert Post and Michael Rogin (eds.), Race and Representation: Affirmative Action. New York: Zone Books, 1998, pp. 281-308.
57) Another round of globalization in San Francisco, Urban Geography, 17(1): 60-94.
1995
56) Regulation and flexible specialization as theories of capitalist development. Challengers to Marx and Schumpeter? IN: Helen Liggett and David Perry, eds. Spatial Practices: Critical Explorations in Social/Spatial Theory. London: Sage, pp. 167-208.
55) California rages against the dying of the light. New Left Review, 209: 42-74.
54) Landscape and city life: four ecologies of residence in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ecumene (now Cultural Geography) 2(1): 33-64.
1993
53) Nature’s Metropolis: The ghost dance of Christaller and Von ThünenAntipode, 26(2): 152-62. (with Brian Page)
52) The hidden dimension of industrialization: an expanding division of labor. Futures 25(6):273-93.
1991
51) From settlement to Fordism: The agro-industrial revolution in the American Midwest. Economic Geography, 67:4, 281-315. (with Brian Page)
1990
50) The playground of US capitalism? The political economy of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980s. IN: Davis, M., Hiatt, S., Kennedy, M., Ruddick, S. and Sprinker, M. eds. Fire in the Hearth: The Radical Politics of Place in America (The Year Left 4). 3-82.
1989
49) A requiem for corporate geography: new directions in industrial organization, the production of place and uneven development Geografisker Annaler. 71B(1): 43-68.
48) Geography from the left: a survey of recent developments. IN: G. Gaile & C. Willmott, Eds. Geography in America (New York: Merrill). 619-50.
47) In defense of realism and dialectical materialism: a friendly critique of Wright and Burawoy’s philosophical marxism. Berkeley Journal of Sociology. 34: 111-35.
46) What’s left to do? Theses on a flyer back. Antipode, 21(2): 133-65.
45) Machinery, labour and location. IN: S. Wood, Ed. The Degradation of Work?(London: Unwin Hyman), pp. 59-90.
1988
44) The dynamics of value, price and profit. Capital and Class. 35, pp. 146-181.
43) The geographical organization of production systems. Society and Space 6(3), 377-408.
42) Partly reproduced as: The organization of production systemsIN: C. Hadjimichalis and N. Komninos, Eds. Changing Labour Processes and New Forms of Urbanization (Samos ‘87). Thessaloniki. (1988) 130-145.
1985
40) Class, division of labour and employment in space. IN: D. Gregory and J. Urry, Eds. Social Relations and Spatial Structures. London: Macmillan. 164-89.
39) Technological determination and determinism: industrial growth and location. IN: M. Castells, Ed., High Technology, Society and Space. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. 226-64.
38) Translated and abridged as: Determination tecnologique et determinisme dans la localisation et la croissance des industries. IN: Cahiers du Centre de Recherches et d’Etudes sur Paris et Ile-de-France (CREPIF), #9, December 1984, pp 274-76
37) Is there a service economy? the changing capitalist division of labor Science and Society, 49:1, Spring, 42-83.
36) Translated and abridged into Japanese by M. Aneha, Kokugakuin Keizai Kenkyu (National Univ. Institute for Economic Research). Paper #19 (1988).
1984
35) The Price of Water: Surplus and Subsidy in the California State Water Project. Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley, monograph. (With M. Storper)
34) The spatial division of labor: labor and the location of industry. IN W. Tabb and L. Sawers, Eds. Sunbelt/Snowbelt. New York: Oxford University Press. 19-47. (With M. Storper)
33) Reprinted as: La division espacial del trabajo. Cuadernos Politicos, 38 (Mexico) Octubre-Diciembre
1983
32) The theory of labor and the theory of location. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 7:1, 1-44. (With M. Storper)
31) Reprinted as: The theory of labor and the theory of location, Institute of Industrial Relations, UCLA, Monograph #354.
1982
30) The illusion of effluent charges, or regulatory dilution is no solution to pollution. Antipode, 14:2, 12-20
29) A guide for the Ley reader of Marxist criticism. Antipode, 14:1, 38-43. (With D. Greenberg)
28) Post-industrialism and political reform in the city: a critique. Antipode, 14:1, 17-32. (With D. Greenberg)
27) Water from power: water supply and regional growth in the Santa Clara Valley. Economic Geography, 58:2, 95-119. (With M. Williams)
26) Industry. IN E. Engelbert and A. Scheuring, Eds., Competition for California’s Water: Alternative Resolutions. Davis: Water Resources Center, 59-75. (With M. Teitz)
25) The expanding California water system. IN W.J. Kockelman, T.J. Conomos & A.E. Leviton, Eds., Use and Protection of the San Francisco Bay System. San Francisco: Pacific Division, AAAS. 171-90. (With M. Storper)
1981
24) Industrial location policy: false premises, false conclusions. Built Environment, 6:2, 105-113
23) Performance regulation and industrial location: a case study. Environment and Planning A, 13, 321-38. (With M. Storper and E. Widess)
22) Capital and industrial location. Progress in Human Geography, 5:4, 473-509. (With M. Storper)
21) Translated as: “Capital y localizacion industrial,” Documents d’Analisi Geografica, 8-9, 203-44 (Dept. de Geografia, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) by D. Sauri (1986)
20) Quiet revolution for whom? Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 71, 67-83. (With Mike Heiman)
19) Left-wing libertarianism, an academic disorder. Professional Geographer,33:1, 5-10.
18) A theory of suburbanization: capitalism and the construction of urban space in the United States. IN: Michael Dear and Allen Scott, Eds., Urbanization and Urban Planning under Advanced Capitalist Societies. New York: Methuen, 1981, 383-430.
1980
17) Crisis and change in U.S. agriculture: an overviewIN R. Burbach and P. Flynn, Agribusiness in the Americas. New York: Monthly Review Press. pp. 20-40. (with Carole MacLennan)
1979
16) The California water system: another round of expansion? Public Affairs Report, 20:2, 1-11. (With Michael Storper)
15) Editor’s introduction, Special Issue on Natural Resources and Environment. Antipode, 11:2, 1-16.
14) The limits of environmental control: the saga of Dow in the Delta. Antipode, 11:2, 1-16. (With Michael Storper and Ellen Widess)
1978
13) Two sources of uneven development under advanced capitalism: spatial differentiation and capital mobility Review of Radical Political Economy, 10:3, 28-39.
12) Erosion of the Clean Air Act of 1970: a study in the failure of government regulation and planning. Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, 7:2, 189-258.
11) The transformation of urban structure in the 19th century United States and the beginnings of suburbanization. IN: Kevin Cox, Ed. Urbanization and Conflict in Market Societies. Chicago: Maaroufa Press, 165-213. (this pdf is flawed; will put up another soon)
1975
10) The economics of energy extravagance. Ecology Law Quarterly, 4:4, 963-65. (With D. Large.)
9) Contentious issues in Marxian value and rent theory: a second and longer look. Antipode, 7:1, 31-54.
1974
8) Benefit-cost reconsidered: an evaluation of the mid-states project. Water Resources Research, 10:5, 898-908. (With S. H. Hanke.)
7) Reprinted in:R. Zeckhauser et al., Benefit-cost and policy analysis, 1974: An Aldine Manual. New York: Aldine Publishers, 392-416and in R. Haveman and J. Margolis, Eds. Public Expenditures and Policy Analysis. Chicago: Rand, McNally. 2d edition, 1977, 329-354; 3d edition, 1983, 324-350.
6) Urban ground rent: building a new conceptual framework. Antipode, 6:1, 51-58.
5) Reprinted as: Die Stadtische Grundrente, Ein Untersuchung zu ihrem Verstaendnis. In J. Barnbrock, Ed. Materialiem zur Oekonomie der Stadplanung. Dusseldorf: Bertelsmann-Verlag, 1975, 241-257. (Revised and translated)
4) Wetlands preservation and management: a rejoinder – economics, science and beyond. Coastal Zone Management Journal, 1:2, 227-233.[This item is included with the pdf of article #3]
1973
3) Wetlands preservation and management on Chesapeake Bay: the role of science in natural resources policy. Coastal Zone Management Journal, 1:1, 75-100.
Special Journal Issues Edited.
1991
Research Policy, vol 20/5 “Networks of Innovators” (w/ C. DeBresson)
1989
Antipode, vol 21/2, “What’s Left to Do?”.
1978
Antipode, vol 11/2, “Natural Resources and Environment”
Other2) “North America: 500 Years of Social Tectonics” – Working Paper, 2003
1) “No Way Out: Immigrants and the New California” pamphlet on Proposition 187, June 22, 1995 (with Jeff Lustig). For Campus Coalition for Human Rights and Social Justice.
Book Reviews
2008M. Klingle, Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle. Yale University Press. IN: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 98(3): 750-52.
2007
Richard Walker, “Suburbia Reconsidered“ (Book Review Essay). IN: Urban Geography, 28/8: 809-15.
2006
David Beesley, Crow’s Range: An Environmental History of the Sierra Nevada. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2004. IN: Pacific Historical Review, August 2006.
2006
Robert Pollin, Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity. London/New York: Verso, 2003. IN: Progress in Human Geography, 30(2): 280-282.
2005
David Meyer, The Roots of American Industrialization. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. IN: Geographyical Review, 94/4, 555-58.
1999
Don Mitchell, Lie of the Land. IN: Geographical Review, October.
Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust. IN: The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review.
1994
Michael Gerlach, Alliance Capitalism. IN: Society and Space.
Martin Kenney and Richard Florida, 1993. Beyond Mass Production. IN: Economic Geography, 70(1): 76-79, January.
1993
Roger Lotchin, Fortress California, 1910-1961: From Warfare to Welfare. IN: Economic Geography 69(2): 224-26.
Frank Fischer, Technology and the Politics of Expertise. IN: Science and Society, 57(2): 246-249, 1993.
1992
A.H. Molina, The Social Basis of the Microelectronics Revolution. IN: Science and Society, 56(2):220-22.
1989
N. Thrift and Williams, P. eds. (1987) Class and Space: the Making of Urban Society. (London: Routledge). IN: Economic Geography, 65(3):251-55.
1988
D. Massey (1987) Nicaragua: Some Urban and Regional Issues in a Society in Transition. (London: Open University Press) IN: Environment and Planning A.
M. Smith and J. Feagin, Eds. (1987) The Capitalist City (New York: Basil Blackwell) IN: Geographical Review .
E. Relph (1987) The Modern Urban Landscape (London: Croom-Helm) IN: The Canadian Geographer.
1987
Edel M., Sclar E. and Luria D. (1984) Shakey Palaces: Homeownership and Social Mobility in Boston’s Suburbanization. IN: Society and Space, v. 5(3) 347-51
1984
M. Christine Boyer, Dreaming the Rational City: The Myth of American City Planning. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1983. IN: The Annals of the AAG, 75:1, pp. 140-43.
1983
J. Bryce, Editor, Cities and Firms. Lexington: DC Heath, 1981. C.L. Leven, Editor. The Mature Metropolis. Lexington: DC Heath, 1978. IN: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 7:2, 278-81.
1982
F. Sandback, Environment, Ideology and Policy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1980. IN: Progress in Human Geography, 6:2, 292-93.
1980
R. Peet, Editor, Radical Geography: Alternative Viewpoints on Contemporary Social Issues. Chicago: Maaroufa Press, 1977. IN: Professional Geographer, 32:2, 253-54.
J. Dunkerly, Editor, International Comparisons of Energy Consumption.Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, 1978. IN: Professional Geographer, 32:2, 244-45.
1979
D. Gregory, Ideology, Social Science and Human Geography. London: Hutchinson, 1978. IN: Annals of the AAG, 69:3, 518-520.
M. Castells, The Urban Question. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1977. IN: The Professional Geographer, 31:1, 116-117.
I. Burton, R. Kates and G.F. White, The Environment as Hazard. New York: Oxford, 1978. IN: Geographical Review, 69:1, 113-224.
Podcasts
Listen to Richard Walker’s interview on The Country in the City on KQED’s Forum (downloads as mp3 file)
Listen to Richard Walker’s interview with KPFA’s Against the Grain (downloads as mp3 file)