Bibliography: pages 488-519. / This study is based on the assumption that money 'powers the urban system'. Its focus is the geography of public finance in Harare and ideologically inspired change in urban management. The context is the changing circumstances attendant upon the transfer of power from minority White settler colonial rule to Black majority rule in Zimbabwe. The ruling ZANU-PF party professed a continuing ideological commitment to the principles of "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist" socialism. It was surmised that application of these principles to the discharge of urban management and to the provision of public goods and services by a Black City Council would have been reflected in changing trends in the generation, allocation and distribution of public funds. Expressed as an aphorism, the geography of public finance investigates 'who gets what, where; who pays, who benefits, who decides, and who decides who decides'. These issues are addressed in the present study. Annual income and expenditure on both capital and revenue accounts for selected Council operations, were analysed in an attempt to identify significant trends from 1978 to 1984. Analytical methods include regression analysis, tests for statistical significance, multi-variate analysis and shift-share analysis. Local authority organisation and practice in colonial Salisbury is described as a basis for the evaluation of changing patterns of public service delivery after independence. Perceptions of priority issues for the city's growth and development were solicited from Councillors in a structured, open-ended questionnaire, and Council by-laws were analysed for evidence of change in the regulation and control of urban activities. Major findings include: 1. that the accounting procedures employed by the City Council are inappropriate for geographical analysis; 2. that the organisational structure and operational procedures of the Council, particularly with respect to urban finance remain virtually unchanged; 3. that the financial and other data provide evidence of the reallocation and redistribution of public funds to redress the colonial legacy of inequality; but 4. that fundamental structural change consistent with criteria indicating transition to a socialist urban space-economy has not occurred. Evidence is advanced in support of these conclusions and major reasons are suggested.