From the Field

From the Field

From “Black City” to “Slum City”: The Importance of Image in Saint-Étienne

Vincent Béal & Christelle Morel Journel & Valérie Sala Pala & translated by Oliver Waine - 20 September 2017

In December 2014, an article in the French daily newspaper Le Monde painted a highly negative portrait of the city of...

From the Field

Swept Away: Public Work and the Politics of Employment in New York City’s Parks

John Krinsky & Maud Simonet - 6 September 2017

Upwards of 4,000 unionized civil-service workers once cleaned and maintained New York City’s parks. Today about 1,800...

From the Field

The Americanization of French social movements? Community organizing and its discontents in the banlieues

Julien Talpin - 29 June 2017

In this second of two articles, sociologist Julien Talpin discusses the importation to France of American traditions...

From the Field

What’s the matter with the banlieues? Exploring the importation of the American community organizing tradition by French social movements

Julien Talpin - 22 June 2017

With the eclipse of the once-powerful Communist and Socialist Parties in France, and these parties’ traditional roots...

From the Field

Rendering a Redeveloped France

Alex Schafran & Giorgia Aiello & Theresa Enright & Yohann Le Moigne - 7 June 2017

As urban redevelopment projects remake the Greater Paris region, it is impossible to separate an avalanche of new...

From the Field

Citizen Outsider: Racism, Marginalization, and Immigration in France

Jean Beaman - 31 May 2017

As refugee crises have emerged and immigration has increased in many regions of the world, several Western countries...

From the Field

The Evolution of New York City’s Black Neighborhoods

John Mollenkopf - 9 May 2017

Especially in the central cities of the Northeast, neighborhoods that were once identified with black politics and...

From the Field

The Actually Existing Markets of Shrinking Cities

Joshua Akers - 18 April 2017

In a bid to halt urban decline, Michigan’s state government sought to create incentives for the creation of urban...

From the Field

Overcoming Decline Through Graffiti? The Case of the Open Space Gallery in Halle (Saale)

Nina Gribat - 4 April 2017

Open Space Gallery, a collective in Halle (Saale), Germany, turned the marginalized neighborhood of Freiimfelde into...

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...

From the Field

Estate Regeneration in London: Politics and Protest

Gerald Koessl - 31 January 2017

Gerald Koessl describes dilemmas facing social-housing providers in London, where social housing often serves as the...

From the Field

The Ongoing Housing Crisis and the Rust Belt Revolt for the GOP

Elora Lee Raymond - 13 January 2017

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

From the Field

Contesting Economies of Displacement and Dispossession

Joshua Akers - 13 January 2017

Joshua Akers describes Detroit’s housing crisis, characterized by speculation, displacement, and increasingly violent...

From the Field

Land Titling: A Tool, not a Panacea

Kareem Ibrahim & Deena Khalil - 20 December 2016

The government of Egypt has long relied on land titling to limit the growth of informal urban residential...

From the Field

Struggles over Rights and Representations in the Migrant Metropolis: Reverberations of the Trump Effect in the Global South

María V. Barbero - 7 December 2016

While Latin America figures in US debates about immigration as a source of immigrants, Trump-style anti-immigrant...

From the Field

Proclaiming “Veggie Pride” in Paris and New York

Elizabeth Cherry - 22 November 2016

How do animal-rights activists promote vegetarianism? Many activists use environmental and health arguments, but this...

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...

From the Field

Liberty, Community and Religion: A Hispano-Moroccan Family in Andalusia

Alain Cottereau & translated by Oliver Waine - 11 October 2016

In Europe, the relationship that migrants originating from the Arab Muslim world – whether first- or...

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...

From the Field

“We Are the Scene”: Alternative Art Economies in Bushwick

Mary Kosut - 13 September 2016

Artists and art communities are essential to the cultural life of cities. In New York City, artists have created...

From the Field

The French Republic and the Paris Spring

Gregory Smithsimon - 6 September 2016

Has the French Spring arrived yet? Gregory Smithsimon documents La Nuit Debout, a self-named social movement that has...

From the Field

Securing Land Tenure in Egypt: Who Needs Registered Titles?

David Sims - 14 June 2016

David Sims challenges popular wisdom on property-rights regimes in non-Western nations by questioning the relevance...

From the Field

The Flea Market of Marseille

Michèle Jolé & William Kornblum - 17 May 2016

Marseille’s flea market (“marché aux puces”) lies at the heart of a vast urban renewal project that could end up...

From the Field

“Harriet Jacobs didn’t learn to read and write so that she could get an A”

C. Ray Borck - 3 May 2016

Confronted by school systems that persistently reproduce race- and class-based educational inequality, how can...

From the Field

Looking Inward, Across the Border

Harel Shapira - 19 April 2016

In the constellation of anti-immigrant politics in the United States, groups like the Minutemen, civilians who patrol...

From the Field

Where Did the Bees Go? New York City Beekeeping Amid Ecological Crises

Mary Kosut & Lisa Jean Moore - 5 April 2016

The decline and extinction of bees and other pollinators threatens the global food supply. Residents in cities like...

From the Field

Childhood Spent Waiting at the Gate

Adeline Perrot & translated by Oliver Waine - 1 April 2016

The recent opening of a holding area for “unaccompanied foreign minors” at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport reflects a...

From the Field

“Enfantillages”: photographing children (and their parents) in public space

Fabien Desage & translated by Oliver Waine - 4 March 2016

Why are children photogenic? Political sociologist Fabien Desage reflects upon his practices as a photographer and...

From the Field

The complex representations of working-class residential towers

Rachid Kaddour & translated by Oliver Waine - 26 February 2016

Rachid Kaddour’s analysis of the trajectory of perceptions of the Plein‑Ciel tower in Saint‑Étienne in south-eastern...

From the Field

A Geography of Revolt in Alexandria, Egypt’s Second Capital

Youssef El Chazli - 23 February 2016

How does the layout of a city affect how protest unfolds? How does urban space constrain and enable the choices...

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