It exposes the tactics of gilded elites alongside their legions of enablers and hangers on, and the ways in which they have turned an already tough city into a 21st century dystopia, where the ultra-rich glide through pristine, soulless environments while the infrastructure we all need decays around us. In Alpha Cities, Rowland Atkinson lays bare how London has been geared up as the world's monument to inequality. This engaging and provocative book is a must read for Londoners, urbanists, and those interested in social, economic and political justice.

And Atkinson tells the story so well through his vivid descriptions of London’s neighbourhoods, streets, and buildings as captured, even stolen. This is the shady, corrupt world of money destroying the city. The fall out is eviction and dispossession of the poor, even the middle classes, the city and its spaces territorialised by the super-wealthy, the collapse of any ethics of care.

London, Alpha City, tops the global power city index, but rankings aside what does this really mean? In this superb book Atkinson tells us – it means hyper-activity, hyper-consumption, and hyper-gentrification. Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and 1% When, the book asks, will the greed of the super-rich end up strangling the city, whose body sustains them? Rowland Atkinson has delved deep to uncover the extent of the super-rich's grip on London. ReviewsĪlpha City is the heart-breaking, carefully-told, story of how London – its heart, mind and soul – was stolen from the people by the plutocrats and their minions. The consequences of this transformation of the capital for capital is the brutal expulsion of the urban poor, austerity, cuts, demolitions, and a catalogue of social injustices. It tells the story of eager developers, sovereign wealth and grasping politicians, all paving the way for the wealthy colonisation of the cityscape. Rowland Atkinson presents a history of the property boom economy, going back to the end of Empire. It shows how the consequences of widening inequality have an impact on the urban landscape.

Taken as a whole, London is the epicentre of the world’s finance markets, an elite cultural hub, and a place to hide one’s wealth.Īlpha City moves from gated communities and the mega-houses of the super-rich to the disturbing rise of evictions and displacements from the city. Compared to New York or Tokyo, it has the largest number of wealthy people per head of population. It is today the essential ‘World City’ for High-Net-Worth Individuals and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals. Who owns London? In recent decades, it has fallen into the hands of the super-rich.

Global alpha cities