The cost of liv­ing in a city has sky­rock­et­ed. While wages have flat­lined for most work­ing-class peo­ple, rents have reached new highs, leav­ing most peo­ple strug­gling. And this, despite the eco­nom­ic costs of the pan­dem­ic. A one-bed­room apart­ment in San Fran­cis­co is over $3,200 a month. But its not just in the US. The ris­ing cost of liv­ing is affect­ed the entire world. But why does the cost of hous­ing con­tin­ue to spi­ral upward? Samuel Steins new book, Cap­i­tal City and the Real Estate State high­lights the grow­ing influ­ence of invest­ment cap­i­tal into land as the dri­ving force behind gen­tri­fi­ca­tion and the pow­er devel­op­ers have over city and local gov­ern­ments. We talk to Samuel about the rise of the glob­al real estate mar­ket and we talk about how rad­i­cal city plan­ning, rent con­trol and social­ized land projects can help fight gentrification.