Capital and Neighborhood in the United States: Some Conceptual Links

An attempt is made to solve the problem of how the existence of a natural ruling class in the United States determines the shape and character of locality, particularly the urban residential neighborhood. It is posited that the connecting link is the local rentier class, which prepares the ground for capital, on the one hand, and organizes the built environ ment and local ideological system on the other. This structure is illustrated through a number of historical and contemporary examples: the oil spill in Santa Barbara, racial change in old cities, the development of the contemporary Sun Belt and the emergence of big capital as a force in city building.