The urban politics of roll‐with‐it neoliberalization

Urban politics has changed during a generation of neoliberalization. This paper argues that next to the notions of roll‐back and roll‐out neoliberalization, which have been put forward to explain this change, a third concept might be helpful: roll‐with‐it neoliberalization. The three concepts refer to phases, moments and contradictions in neoliberalization. Roll‐with‐it neoliberalization captures the normalization of governmentalities associated with the neoliberal social formation and its emerging crises. The paper outlines an immanent critique of roll‐with‐it neoliberalization to determine possible consequences for urban politics in this current phase: (a) neoliberal governmentality has been generalized to the point that it does not have to be established aggressively and explicitly and (b) the far‐reaching crises of regulation that have gripped the capitalist urban system as a result of neoliberal roll‐out now demand new orientations in collective action that involve both ‘reformed’ neoliberal elite practices and elite reaction to widespread contestation of neoliberal regulation. The paper differentiates two ideal types of urban political discourses at the current conjuncture and adds a progressive alternative that points beyond the neoliberal agenda. While the previous era created governance conflicts around social cohesion and economic competitiveness, the current debate moves to new sectors of social concern, which broaden the agenda of urban politics to encompass fields traditionally not included in considerations on urban political regulation. The paper concludes that while roll‐with‐it neoliberalization has changed the game and moved the boundaries of urban politics, it has also created new contradictions that demonstrate its own unsustainability as a mode of regulation. As the financial and economic architecture of global neoliberalism fails, and communities world wide are thrown into the maelstrom of crisis, urban politics and the actors that make it need to be reimagined.