Value struggles in the foundational economy: Reclaiming marketplaces as foundational infrastructure

This paper brings a renewed focus on value struggles to foundational economy research through a study of UK marketplaces. The Foundational Economy (FE) refers to the essential goods and services that support everyday life – food, housing, health care, education, transport and utilities. The marketplace, where people meet to buy and sell fresh food and other household products, was central to the municipal-led first phase of foundational economy investment in 19th-century Europe, but since been neglected, marginalised and transformed into a commercial and real estate asset. This paper highlights the importance of struggles over value to the shifting position of the marketplace in relation to the foundational and the competitive, tradeable economy. It draws on extensive multi-method research including the first quantitative survey of marketplaces’ foundational roles at three case study markets. We use this data to trace successive phases of valorisation, devalorisation and revalorisation of the marketplace, examining how coalitions and alliances mobilise specific tools, models and metrics to valorise marketplaces in different economic zones. We find that these processes are contested and open to change, encountering specific place-based alternative value regimes valorising marketplaces’ foundational provisioning and social roles. The paper demonstrates the potential of the marketplace and value struggles as a strategic site for place-based FE research, proposing its further development in conversation with urban movement research.