United States

From the Field

Saving Ivy Island: A Civil War in North Portland

Lauren Everett - 15 January 2019

Lauren Everett examines two different approaches by community activists confronting change in a tight-knit Portland...

From the Field

Race and Progressive Politics in Chicago

John J. Betancur & Leonor Vanik - 9 January 2019

The progressive movement in Chicago may not be as broad-minded as depicted in the academic literature. Racial...

From the Field

Backpedaling in Birmingham

William Grady Holt - 20 November 2018

Despite the 2017 election of progressive, black mayors in major southern US cities, citizens who supported these...

From the Field

When Progressive Mayors Aren’t Enough: Homes for All and Trans-Local Social Movements

H. Jacob Carlson & Marnie Brady & Gianpaolo Baiocchi - 13 November 2018

Progressive governments are often pulled away from their campaign promises by local growth-coalition interests or...

From the Field

Killing Them Softly: The Environmental Vulnerability of Black Women in Albany, New York

Tanesha A. Thomas - 23 October 2018

In Albany’s South End, a predominantly low-income African-American neighborhood, tanks storing environmentally...

Essays

The Making of a Progressive Mayor: James Kenney of Philadelphia

Richardson Dilworth - 17 October 2018

Philadelphia’s voters elected James Kenney Mayor in 2015 after he had served more than two decades as an at‑large...

Essays

Local Leadership and Global Goals: How City Sustainability Networks are Changing Progressive Policymaking

Emma French & Supraja Sudharsan & Jennifer Clark - 18 September 2018

While national governments often struggle to address global climate change, cities are in a better position to...

From the Field

Invisible Lines in the Sand: Bather Arrests in Early 20th-Century Los Angeles

Elsa Devienne & translated by Oliver Waine - 13 July 2018

Can beaches reveal the tensions that run through society at a given moment in time? Here, Elsa Devienne shows how...

From the Field

Dunkirk as a New “Laboratory” for Free Transit

Henri Briche & Maxime Huré & translated by Oliver Waine - 29 June 2018

From September 2018, the public transport network in Dunkirk, France, will be free of charge for all users. Henri...

Reviews

Miscounting Americans Correctly: Post-Truth as a Guide to Race and the US Census

Gregory Smithsimon - 12 June 2018

Paul Schor’s book Counting Americans demonstrates that, in the hands of the US Census Bureau, the concept of race...

From the Field

Planning for the Unimaginable: Puerto Rico and Strategies for Climate-Change Adaptation

Cecelia Walsh-Russo - 1 May 2018

The damage from the two hurricanes that struck Puerto Rico was multiplied by US austerity plans that deprived the...

Essays

Looking Forward to 2020 While Looking Back: A Brief History of the US Census

Frank Donnelly - 27 February 2018

As preparations for the 2020 census are under way in the United States, Frank Donnelly looks back at how the census...

From the Field

Excluding Fast and Slow: Charlottesville’s Long Battle over Public Space

Frank Muraca - 9 January 2018

The “Unite the Right” white-supremacist rally in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, erupted into violence, killing...

Debates

When Does Police Violence Cause Urban Unrest?

Cathy Lisa Schneider - 14 November 2017

In the summer of 2014, police killed Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York. Both men were black and...

From the Field

Snowbirds’ Gift Economy in the Arizona Desert

David Frati - 7 November 2017

Each year, 200,000 retired people spend the winter in and around the small town of Quartzsite, Arizona, in the...

From the Field

Projecting Supply and Demand for Middle-Skill Occupations in US States and Metro Areas

James Orr & Ofronama Biu - 10 October 2017

Analysts have long noted difficulties in quantifying and projecting skill mismatches in local labor markets....

Essays

American Shrinking Cities May Not Need to Grow

Deborah E. Popper & Frank J. Popper - 25 April 2017

Successful cities are expected to continually grow, and when this doesn’t happen, city managers typically try to...

From the Field

DIY Urbanism in Shrinking Cities: Or, What Neighbors Are Left With When Markets Withdraw and Governments Contract

Kimberley Kinder - 27 March 2017

DIY culture is one of the zeitgeists of our time. Hipster home-brewing, swing-dance flash mobs, and pop-up maker...

Essays

The Arts as Fundamental—and Fragile—in Community Life

Andrew Zitcer & Julie Hawkins & Neville Vakharia - 22 February 2017

Arts funding in America mirrors the inequality found in society more broadly. Yet amid persistent poverty and other...

Interviews

“Build a Wall”: The Wrong Solution for Our Coastal Problems. An Interview with Jennifer Mattei

Jennifer H. Mattei & Lisa Jean Moore - 7 February 2017

Metropolitics editorial committee member and sociologist Lisa Jean Moore interviewed biologist Jennifer Mattei, an...

Reviews

Citadels, Cores, and Confetti: Urban Festivals in the New Political Economy of the Music Industry

Johan Jansson - 5 January 2017

How have changes in the music industry—especially regarding the way music is produced and consumed today—affected...

Reviews

Closed Quarters

William Helmreich - 13 December 2016

As we contemplate an era marked by official hostility to fair-housing laws, we would do well to heed the...

Essays

This is Not How it Ends: Post-Election Immigration Organizing in the United States

Folasade K. Famakinwa - 7 December 2016

In response to a tense post-election moment in the US, the Metropolitics editorial committee has initiated...

From the Field

A Welcoming (and Sometimes Not) America: Immigrant Integration in the New South

Anna Joo Kim - 1 November 2016

In a departure from traditional patterns of migrant settlement in the US, a cluster of ethnoburbs is emerging in...

Reviews

Restless Cities

Laura Wolf-Powers - 25 October 2016

The world of downtown real-estate development seems to have a life of its own, independent of demand for space and...

From the Field

Building a Multifaceted Campaign for Public Higher Education

Stephen Brier & Michael Fabricant - 4 October 2016

In their new book, Austerity Blues: Fighting for the Soul of Public Higher Education, Michael Fabricant and Stephen...

Debates

Climate Action Plans and the “Climate-Just” City

Cecelia Walsh-Russo - 27 September 2016

In the face of major climatic changes, more and more US cities are developing climate action plans. But while these...

Reviews

Evictions and Poverty

Hilary Botein - 28 June 2016

Matthew Desmond’s Evicted has drawn much-needed attention to the under-studied problem of unsubsidized rental...

Debates

Technocratic Values and Uneven Development in the “Smart City”

Taylor Shelton & Jennifer Clark - 10 May 2016

In the US, the idea of “smart cities” is coming to dominate federal government involvement in, and funding for, urban...

Debates

More Affordable Transit Fares

Alexis Perrotta - 26 April 2016

Low-income urban residents often struggle to afford transit fares. Seattle recently established half-fares for poor...

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