There is often a premium to living near to public transit, and some local governments try to capture this value through property taxes which are in turn used to fund transit infrastructure. In new research which looks at the Washington DC Metro, Edmund Zolnik finds that, while there are significant accessibility premiums for properties close to Metro stations, these […]
Our traditional understanding of the police is that they operate across a city, but in New Orleans, neighborhood associations have moved to create their own residential security districts with private patrols. Aaron Malone writes that the districts, which are mostly located in wealthy and racially similar areas, reinforce inequality, are ineffective against violent crime, and sidestep the difficult politics […]
A dominant view in urban economics suggests that the solution to the housing crisis of major cities is to relax zoning and other planning regulations. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose and Michael Storper challenge this position, arguing that there is no clear and uncontroversial evidence that housing regulation is a principal source of differences in home availability or prices across cities and […]
When we think of ‘superstar cities’ such as San Francisco, concerns arise about inequality, segregation and the effect of gentrification on mixed neighborhoods. In exploratory research, Kevin Kane looks at the link between inequality and urban segregation and political polarization. He finds that inequality does not necessarily link to neighborhood segregation in superstar cities: neighborhoods with growing incomes, a […]
As part of efforts to reduce traffic accidents, many cities and towns in the US have introduced red light cameras which electronically assign fines to drivers who break the law. But new research from Justin Gallagher and Paul J. Fisher finds that these cameras don’t reduce accident numbers at all. Instead, they write, the behavior changes caused by red […]
The economic downturn of the late 2000s led many municipalities to retrench public transit services, often in poorer areas. Richard Duckworth and Alex Karner take an in-depth look at Clayton County, Georgia, where a decade after the cancellation of an important bus service, the efforts of non-profits, community leaders and transit users have led to new public transit services […]
Does the construction of new parks inevitably lead to nearby low-income neighborhoods becoming gentrified? It depends, find Alessandro Rigolon and Jeremy Németh. Studying different kinds of parks in ten US cities, they determine that function and location, not a park’s size, are linked to gentrification. Neighborhoods close to long, thin, centrally located parks like New York’s High-Line, are over […]
Despite its desirability to many, suburbs cost, and not only to residents in terms of more expensive transport costs, but also to local authorities, according to new research from Christopher Goodman. By studying 30 years of data covering public spending on metropolitan counties, he finds that compact developments are less costly in terms of public services, while denser developments […]
In Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State, Samuel Stein approaches the issue of gentrification through the lens of urban planning, arguing for better understanding of the rising political influence of real estate interests within local and national governments. The book shines a light on the underlining political dynamic that lies at the heart of our cities and is essential reading […]
Book Review: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Obama’s legacy is as a disappointingly conventional president
The curse of slavery has left an intergenerational legacy of trauma and poor health for African Americans
Those who trust government and others are more likely to comply with stay at home orders.
Sander Hölsgens reviews Muddied Waters: The Fictionalisation of Ethnographic Film by Toni de Bromhead 
Aerin Lai reviews Decolonizing Universalism: A Transnational Feminist Ethic by Serene J. Khader 
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New Orleans’ evolving food scene is a window into the city’s post-Katrina recovery
New Orleans’ evolving food scene is a window into the city’s post-Katrina recovery
As a place famous for its food, the revitalization of New Orleans’ restaurants has been taken as a sign of the overall recovery of the city following 2005’s Hurricane Katrina disaster. Jeanne Firth writes that despite this progress, commentary on the recent restaurant boom can obscure the unevenness of New Orleans’ recovery, with increasing disparities in access to healthy […]