Introduction

Current city rankings, cities’ global advertisingcampaigns and large-scale urban development dynamicswith iconic ‘trophy’ buildings, among others,suggest a somewhat schizophrenic trend incontemporary urban development. Cities take muchpride in scoring high as the globe's most affluentplaces. Yet, they pay a high price for doing so byconceding to the powers of a planning ‘technocracy’,whose activities often intensify the inequalities ofliving conditions and the unaffordability ofhousing, to name but a few. This chapter exploresthe impact of a specific type of economic elite thatshould be included in the equation of technocracy oncontemporary urban planning: the financial andadvanced business services (FABS) such as legal,tax, property and other advisory firms – the‘technicians’ who keep the financial capitalistsystem afloat. My argument is that this diverselandscape of private experts is becomingincreasingly influential in shaping public planningpolicies and private corporate strategies in realestate development, yet they operate asunaccountable actors, far from any transparentdemocratic process. The role of the FABS industry ischaracterised by this sector's ability to generatepower and strategic knowledge that determines urbanand regional development. I develop and exemplify myargument in the context of Luxembourg and its vastlydynamic financial economy. Like in the UK, financeis one of Luxembourg's strategic industries.Although Luxembourg's financial centre is tightlyembedded in Luxembourg City's urban fabrics, it isalso largely disarticulated from it and forms partof a global archipelago with other financialcentres. Specifically since the early 2000s,Luxembourg City has been responding to the demandsof the international FABS elite in its provision ofeconomic policies and large-scale urban developmentprojects (Dörry, 2015). I therefore situate FABS astechnocratic agent at the interface of financialeconomic policy and urban development.

Today, the world's major urban economies offerextensive opportunities to firms and investors, andthe imperative of financial capitalism has boostedthe significance of firms operating in the FABSeconomy. Such firms flock to places with favourableregulations, sophisticated interconnectivities andurban vivaciousness to fully grasp the vastopportunities offered, for example, in global citiesand international financial centres (IFCs).