Eastern Washington University EWU Digital Commons EWU Masters Thesis Collection Student Research and Creative Works Summer 2020 'Armageddon': the unholy trinity of class monopoly rent in the Emerald City Elijah Connor Hansen Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.ewu.edu/theses Part of the Geographic Information Sciences Commons, Human Geography Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons ‘AMAGEDDON’: THE UNHOLY TRINITY OF CLASS MONOPOLY RENT IN THE EMERALD CITY A Thesis Presented To Eastern Washington University Cheney, Washington In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Master of Arts in Critical GIS and Public Anthropology By Elijah Connor Hansen Spring 2020 ii THESIS OF ELIJAH C. HANSEN APPROVED BY DATE DR. MATTHEW B. ANDERSON, GRADUATE STUDY COMMITTEE DATE DR. ERIN D. DASCHER, GRADUATE STUDY COMMITTEE DATE DR. KASSAHUN KEBEDE, GRADUATE STUDY COMMITTEE iii ABSTRACT ‘AMAGEDDON’: THE UNHOLY TRINITY OF CLASS MONOPOLY RENT IN THE EMERALD CITY by Elijah C. Hansen Summer 2020 Intense redevelopment has steamrolled across Seattle’s South Lake Union and Belltown neighborhoods, home to the headquarters of the world’s largest ecommerce corporation, Amazon. After the corporation established a presence in what is now referred to as ‘Amazonia’ in 2007, the surrounding urban landscape underwent a colossal metamorphic overhaul as high-tech and biotech industries, along with bourgeois luxury high rises, replaced old warehouses and empty parking lots. These new industries have attracted tens of thousands of people to the city, resulting in an oversaturated housing supply and an ensuing housing affordability crisis as rents have continued to skyrocket year after year. The circumstances surrounding the crisis suggest foul play not only by the megacorporation itself, but by developers and City officials, all supporting each other through a network of growth strategies that favor capital over people. This thesis therefore applies a critical mixed methods approach in conjunction with land rent theory to achieve two goals. First, I analyze the ‘roll-with-it’ circumstances of neoliberalized iv policy-making decisions by the City that leads to an unveiling of Amazon’s dual-natured role as both a steward for the rent-seeking class and as a ‘glocalized’ actor operating at multiple scales of neoliberalization. Second, I investigate the potential factors that have helped create the housing affordability crisis using geospatial and statistical modelling techniques to find confirm that the strategies the City employed as they lie in bed with developers have significantly impacted rising rents to an alarming degree. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My sincerest gratitude is extended to my advisor, Dr. Matt Anderson for revealing the illusions of the capitalist utopia that we are so severely entrenched within. For years I knew something was wrong with our exploitative system, yet its source remained shrouded in the shadowy veil of secrecy. Your guidance illuminated avenues of critical research I would have never found on my own accord that were essential to my own personal growth. Many thanks are also owed to Dr. Dascher, who helped construct the quantitative portion of my thesis by sending me on a punishing crash course of statistics and sharing the necessary resources to complete my analyses. Dr. Kebede, as well, thank you for joining my committee as the third chair at the last minute. I am indebted to you. I would also like to thank Matt Parsons, without whom I would have never gained access to a sizable proportion of the GIS data used in my analysis. I owe endless thanks to my wife, for dealing with long tireless hours of agitation over the frustrations of research, who consoled and fed me during the most grueling stretches. Scott and Becky, who not only cheered me on throughout but also fed and housed me through half of my time in the program. Lastly, I offer undying loyalty and gratitude to the Doom Dome for continuous motivation, inspiration, and support. This entire endeavor is dedicated to all those that rent – may your struggle against the barriers posed by the landowning class not be in vain. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page Abstract ........................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................... v I An Unholy Presence Lurks in the Heart of the Emerald City............................ 1 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 5 Methodology .............................................................................................. 8 Limitations ................................................................................................. 15 Structure of Thesis ..................................................................................... 16 II (Re)Conceptualizing Rent ................................................................................ 17 The Monopoly Power to Command Rent ................................................... 19 History of Land Rent Theory...................................................................... 20 Conceptualizing Modern Rent to Develop Canon ....................................... 27 Introducing A New Typology..................................................................... 36 III The Production of the Unholy Trinity in Seattle ............................................... 47 Qualitative Methods ................................................................................... 47 Neoliberal Hegemony and Corporate Governmentality .............................. 50 Roll-With-It, Seattle: A Historical Look as Seattle (2000 – Present) ........... 56 Discussion.................................................................................................. 79 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 93 IV Geospatial and Statistical Analyses .................................................................. 96 Parcel Data and Amazon’s Campus ............................................................ 100 Heat Maps .................................................................................................. 101 Optimized Hot Spot Analysis ..................................................................... 102 Multiple Linear Regression ........................................................................ 105 Regression Results ..................................................................................... 119 Discussion.................................................................................................. 122 vii V Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 130 References ....................................................................................................... 138 Appendix A ...................................................................................................... 174 Appendix B ...................................................................................................... 176 Appendix C ...................................................................................................... 178 Vita .................................................................................................................. 182 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 ‘Amazonia’ in the Heart of Seattle ................................................................... 3 2 Logic Structure of Mixed Methods................................................................... 12 3 Redevelopment of SLU and Belltown, 1996 to Present .................................... 61 4 Amazon’s Campus ........................................................................................... 97 5 Seattle Neighborhoods as Defined by the City’s Clerk Office .......................... 99 6 Study Area and Surrounding Urban Villages .................................................... 100 7 Heat Maps of Land Values in the Study Area ................................................... 102 8 Results of the Optimized Hot Spot Analysis ..................................................... 104 9 2005 and 2019 Parcel Layers ........................................................................... 108 10 Parcels Used in Final Dataset ........................................................................... 116 11 MHA Performance Options Within Study Area ............................................... 126 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Rent Categories as Variables ............................................................................ 39 2 The Variables of Rent Appropriation ............................................................... 41 3 Potential Variables and Data Sources for Inclusion in Regression Analysis ...... 106 4 Combinations of Variables Tested for Regression Analysis .............................. 117 5 Variables Included in Final Regression Model ................................................. 118 6 Multiple Regression Results for Increase of the Square Root of Land Value .... 120 viii LIST OF EQUATIONS Equation Page 1 General Rent Formula ...................................................................................... 39 2 Expanded General Rent Formula ..................................................................... 43 3 The General Formula for Class-Monopoly Rent ..............................................