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AbstractSuburban shrinkage, understood as a degenerative urban process stemming from the demise of the Fordist mode of urbanism, is generally manifested in a decline in population, industry and employment. It is also intimately linked to the global restructuring of industrial organization associated with the rise of the post‐Fordist mode of urbanism and, more recently, the thrust of Asian industrialization. Framed in the discourse of industrial urbanism, this article examines the first ring of industrial suburbs that developed around large cities in their most rapid Fordist urbanization phase. These industrial suburbs, although they were formed at different times, are today experiencing specific mutations and undergoing profound restructuring on account of their particular spatial position between the central area and the expanding peripheries of the post‐Fordist metropolis. This article describes and compares suburban decline in two European cities (Glasgow and Paris) and two Latin American Cities (São Paulo, Brazil and Guadalajara, Mexico), as different instances of places asymmetrically and fragmentarily integrated into the geography of globalization.RésuméLa décroissance suburbaine, analysée comme un processus découlant de la disparition du mode fordiste de développement urbain, se manifeste généralement par une baisse de la population, de l'activitééconomique et de l'emploi. Elle est aussi intimement liée à la restructuration globale de l'organisation industrielle associée à la montée du mode post‐fordiste de développement urbain et, plus récemment, à la poussée de l'industrialisation en Asie. Fondé sur les approches de l'urbanisme industriel, cet article examine la première couronne de banlieues industrielles qui s'est développée autour des grandes villes dans la phase la plus rapide de l'urbanisation fordiste. Ces banlieues industrielles, bien que formées à différentes périodes, connaissent aujourd'hui des mutations spécifiques et des restructurations profondes liées à leur position particulière: entre les villes centres et les périphéries en expansion de la métropole post‐fordiste. Cet article décrit et compare la décroissance des banlieues dans deux villes européennes (Glasgow et Paris) et deux villes latino‐américaines (São Paulo au Brésil et Guadalajara au Mexique), comme différents exemples de territoires intégrés de manière asymétrique et fragmentée dans la géographie de la globalisation.

The natural classification of socialism in the evolution of the history of humanity is one more difficulty for many thinkers. Surprisingly enough, many intelligent people try to deny the sense of history by challenging historical reality. In other words, though it existed, it would have been much better for socialism not to have existed in the history of humanity.The dereliction of socialist ideology after 1989, the cancellation or ridicule of the principles and ideals expressed in the cant of the boring and demonetized slogans prove the fragility of the much-invoked damage of the so-called communist politics as an essence of the system. It was not the ideology, or the code of the communists' ethics or the supremacy of socialist property that made up the sense and essence of socialism as applied after 1948.The 'objective' of applied socialism was the forced, accelerated development of the economies of the central and south-eastern European countries, based on the experience of USSR for the compatibility of the structure of the consumption demand of their inhabitants with the supply of the industrialized countries in a historical interval as soon as possible. God knows whether the effects of extending capitalism in these countries instead of socialism would have been the same or maybe even better until 1989! The fact is that socialism was imposed from the outside, without following in any way whatsoever the Marxist schedule of proletarian revolution determined by the enhancement of internal class contradictions.The study of the League of Nations in 1945 reveals the programmatic character or, if not, at least the prophetic character of the advanced analyses and forecasts based on the developments of the 1870-1938 period.during the interwar period, the gaps between the manufactured products exporting countries and the raw materials supplying countries widened;the diminution of the purchasing power in the countries exporting the basic commodities put more acutely in danger the sales of the countries manufacturing processed industrial goods; the economic gaps between the West and the East, i.e. the North and the South, could be reduced only by the fast industrialization of the countries exporting raw materials;the role of the external capital in the development of national economies was proved to be the least controversial; the internal, national accumulation was decisive;the free initiative, individualism and pseudo-market economy had proven their limits, as they had been ineffective for an accelerated development of the countries during early industrialization;the study of the League of Nations highlights the need of the constant intervention of the state in economy by means of central planning.Though socialism was not expressly recommended as the best solution for the forced economic growth and development of the raw materials supplying countries, the study of the League of Nations in 1945 argues and supports measures and convergent ways of action to a very similar socio-economic system.

Do local improvements in infrastructure provision improve city competitiveness? What public finance mechanisms stimulate local infrastructure supply? And how do local efforts compare with national decisions of placing inter-regional trunk infrastructure? In this paper, we examine how the combination of local and national infrastructure supply improve city competitiveness, measured as the city's share of national private investment. For the empirical analysis, we collect city-level data for India, and link private investment decisions to infrastructure provision. We find that a city's proximity to international ports and highways connecting large domestic markets has the largest effect on its attractiveness for private investment. In comparison, the supply of local infrastructure services - such as municipal roads, street lighting, water supply, and drainage - enhance competitiveness, but their impacts are much smaller. Thus, while local efforts are important for competitiveness, they are less likely to be successful in cities distant from the country's main trunk infrastructure. In terms of financing local infrastructure, we find that a city's ability to raise its own source revenues by means of local taxes and user fees increases infrastructure supply, whereas as inter governmental transfers do not have statistically significant effects.