"In line with its ‘timeful’ approach, the book starts working towards its end once we arrive at financialization in the form to which we are accustomed. By this point, Bicocca is almost completely stripped of its old working-class identity. Though the authors do not write in a melodramatic tone here, it’s sad to see that, after a century of struggle, the area is now known as a ‘no-man’s-land’. It was not always planned like this; in the 1980s, Pirelli’s plan was to turn Bicocca into a leading centre of high-tech industrial development named ‘Technocity’. But already by the 1990s, company management realized that basing the neighbourhood’s development entirely on real-estate speculation was much more profitable. In stark contrast, then, with the supposedly ‘dynamic’ financial markets determining the rhythm of its development, Bicocca is now best described by the authors as ‘decaffeinated urbanity’.
In that sense, Class Meets Land reminds more of the financial markets it takes issue with than of present-day Bicocca: it’s a fast-paced book, in the best sense of the word, and nowhere do the authors trip into excessive theoretical reflection. Yet, its biggest strength lies in Kaika and Ruggiero’s methodological insistence: the struggle between class and capital is never lost sight of, and each historical event is neatly related to what preceded and followed it. As such, they make a convincing case for approaching financialization in its specific historical context and from the perspective of local class struggles."
