LAUSR

ABSTRACT Deliberations over property development are often typified by caricatures of the process, its actors and outcomes, with the process generally portrayed as a “development game” with planners and developers occupying opposing position. Drawing upon an examination of developers engagement with development contributions in the London Borough of Southwark, this paper draws attention to how they assume responsibility for mitigating the impacts of their developments. By exploring developers’ understandings of, attitudes toward, and interactions with development contributions, it examines how developers respond to and reflect upon this mode of intervention. It argues that the attitudes and actions of developers are neither technical or value free, but shaped by partialities that necessitate the conceptualization of the political role of developers. Whilst developers inevitably conceptualize development contributions as financial costs, they ascribe a wider set of values to these contributions, mobilizing them to serve their own interests, often revolving around building reputational capital.