Zwischen lokaler Verankerung und internationaler Vernetzung. Auswirkungen wirtschaftlicher Spezialisierung auf die Stadtentwicklung des Kleinstaates Monaco

Economic globalization contributes to the characterization of locations as much as it causes an ever increasing competition between these spatial units. As a consequence, economic specializations and the formation of an hierarchy come into existence. According to comparative metropolis-research, it is primarily the big cities and urbane spaces which come out as winners from this competition. Apart from Global or World Cities respectively, there are smaller, well positioned spatial units which succeed in exploiting globalization’s processes by integrating themselves profitably into urbane networks. The Principality of Monaco is such an economic unit, insofar as it exhibits an extremely dynamic development in spite of its limitations posed by the restricted space for construction. Above all, the Principality suffers from immense surface area pressure due to its renown as being an economy-friendly location. Although Monaco has already reached the narrow limits of its spatial resources, it is characterized by immensely active construction- and real-estate-economies. These, next to financial services and tourism, constitute an additional pillar in Monaco’s economy in so far as they aim at innovative perspectives rehabilitation through demolishment and at measures of producing developing additional spaces. An observable steady increase of productively usable room capacities does not suffice to saturate the demand, though. Local as well as international interest groups cause drastic increases in price levels, which, in turn, set into motion processes of displacement. Since Monaco usually does not regulate the prices for room, it is only the financially potent agents who can come up with the necessary means to cover customary rent- or sale-prices. It is primarily international financial services who can do so and, thus, displace local entrepreneurs in a process of successive usage. The presented model of successive usage visualizes and exemplifies this process of displacement prototypically.