8th Edition
American Urban Politics in a Global Age
Bringing together a selection of readings that represent some of the most important trends and topics in urban scholarship today, American Urban Politics in a Global Age provides historical context and contemporary commentaries on the economy, politics, culture, and identity of American cities. The eighth edition of this well-rounded and popular urban politics reader maintains the wide variety of reading selections it is known for, as well as many “classics,” while adapting to current events and developments in urban politics, and engaging cities in a post-pandemic world. All-new readings and important editorial commentary include:
- Recent political debates about policing, race, and ethnicity in the urban environment
- The impact of climate change on cities, and their roles in mitigating it, as well as preparing for it
- A discussion of gender politics in post-Trump American cities
- A reflection on the increasing importance of private players in city- and metro-politics, from implications for governance, to the growing corporate aspect of smart city initiatives, designed to help urban governments provide important services across cities and metropolitan regions; and
- An examination of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impact on cities, from the initial, devastating outbreak in New York City in March 2020, to recurring shutdowns, life, urban development, and social polarization post-COVID
American Urban Politics in a Global Age remains an approachable scholarly resource for undergraduate and graduate classrooms, as well as a general, wide-ranging scholarly overview of the most important aspects of the field for researchers. It may be taught alongside City Politics: Cities and Suburbs in 21st Century America.
Preface
Editors’ Introductory Essay
Part I: Governance and Political Economy
1. The Pillars of American Urban Scholarship in a Global Age
Editors’ Introduction
Selection 1 All Politics is Local: The Reemergence of the Study of City Politics
Jessica Trounstine
Selection 2 The Interests of the Limited City
Paul E. Peterson
Selection 3 The Future of Urban Regime Studies
Clarence N. Stone
Selection 4 Why History (Still) Matters: Time and Temporality in Urban Political Analysis
Joel Rast
2. The Politics of Urban Economic Development in a New Era
Editors’ Introduction
Selection 5 Techs and the Cities: A New Economic Development Paradigm?
Gary Sands, Pierre Filion and Laura A. Reese
Selection 6 Can Politicians Bargain with Business?
Paul Kantor and H. V. Savitch
Selection 7 “Re-Stating” Theories of Urban Development
James M. Smith
3. Public Power and Private Influence in Contemporary Cities
Editors’ Introduction
Selection 8 The Mauling of Public Space
Margaret Kohn
Selection 9 Beyond Community and Sharing: The Case of Airbnb in New York City
Katharina Knaus and Peer Illner
Selection 10 What Are Charter Schools and Do They Deliver?
Jon Valant
Part II: The Challenges of Governing the Divided Metropolis
4. Governing Factional Polities in America’s Urban Centers
Editors’ Introduction
Selection 11 Immigrants and Politics in San Francisco
Els de Graauw
Selection 12 White Power, Black Brokers
Mary Pattillo
Selection 13 A Descriptive Analysis of Female Mayors: The U.S. and Texas in Comparative Perspective
Melissa Marschall
5. Urban Resilience, Sustainability, and Climate Change
Editors’ Introduction
Selection 14 Is Detroit Dead?
Peter Eisinger
Selection 15 Do-It-Yourself Cities
Kimberley Kinder
Selection 16 Air Conditioning Will Not Save Us
Eric Dean Wilson
Selection 17 A Battle Between a Great City and a Great Lake: The Climate Crisis Haunts Chicago’s Future
Dan Egan
Selection 18 Civil Society and Sustainable Cities
Kent E. Portney and Jeffrey Berry
6. Governance, Gentrification, and Neighborhoods
Editors’ Introduction
Selection 19 What is Wrong with Gentrification?
Margaret Kohn
Selection 20 Gentrifier? Who, Me? Interrogating the Gentrifier in the Mirror
John Joe Schlichtman and Jason Patch
Part III: Crises and Ways Forward
7. The Year 2020 and Its Aftermath
Editors’ Introduction
Selection 21 The Epicenter
Dan Barry, Annie Correal and Todd Heisler
Selection 22 Structurally Vulnerable Neighborhood Environments and Racial/Ethnic COVID-19 Inequities
Rachel L. Berkowitz, Xing Gao, Eli K. Michaels and Mahasin S. Mujahid
Selection 23 COVID-19 Cases in New York City, a Neighborhood-Level Analysis
The Stoop, NYU Furman Center Blog
Selection 24 Where Do Black Lives Matter? Race, Stigma, and Place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Jenna M. Loyd and Anne Bonds
8. Cities in Control? Finding Solutions to Broad Issues
Editors’ Introduction
Selection 25 5 Ways Cities Led in Pandemic Recovery
Lindsey Volz
Selection 26 New Data Reveal Most Populous Cities Experienced Some of the Largest Decreases
Amel Toukabri and Crystal Delbé
Selection 27 Big Cities Aren’t Dividing America. They Hold the Key to Our Collective Future
Amy Liu and Alan Berube
Selection 28 If Mayors Ruled the World: Why They Should and How They Already Do
Benjamin R. Barber
Biography
Annika Marlen Hinze is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Director of Urban Studies at Fordham University, USA. Her research and teaching focus on urban politics, identity politics, immigration, qualitative and mixed methods research, and gender politics in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Turkey.
James M. Smith is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Master of Public Affairs program at Indiana University South Bend, USA. His research focuses on urban governance and institutions in U.S. cities, and he teaches courses in the Political Science Department focused on American political institutions, and in the Master of Public Affairs program on urban planning and public policy.
