Debates

Debates

Does Rent Control Prevent Investment in Real Estate?

Loïc Bonneval & translated by Oliver Waine - 8 February 2019

While rent-control measures kept private rental housing in France affordable for much of the 20th century, it has...

Debates

Deafening Discord: Reclaiming Residents’ Anger in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Pierre Chabard & translated by Oliver Waine - 26 October 2018

We recently published an article showing how, in Roubaix in northern France, elected officials took steps to “prevent...

Debates

Silent Suppression: How Local Politicians Stifle Collective Action in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Julien Talpin & translated by Oliver Waine - 19 October 2018

Taking as its starting point a study of a neighborhood roundtable in the northern French city of Roubaix, this...

Debates

Can the Commons Pave the Way to Greater Land Security?

Irène Salenson & Claire Simonneau & translated by Oliver Waine - 22 June 2018

Experiences of collective forms of ownership, based on the concept of the commons, have flourished throughout the...

Debates

Where Does Public Land Come From? Municipalization and Privatization Debates

Oksana Mironova & Samuel Stein - 6 March 2018

This article illuminates contemporary land-use and disposition struggles in New York City by tracing the history of...

Debates

The Cost of Good Intentions: Planning Gridlock in San Francisco

David Prowler - 30 January 2018

The culture of protest that marked development and planning in San Francisco during the 1970s and 1980s was a...

Debates

Storm Recovery: Local Efforts, Municipal Constraints, and New Ways Forward

Michael P. McCabe - 28 November 2017

Climate change-induced storm surges and rising sea levels will steadily cause more damage to homes in low-lying urban...

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...

Debates

How Anti-Trans Bathroom Bills Hurt Girls and Women

C. Ray Borck - 16 May 2017

Do recent “bathroom bills” protect girls and women from sexual predators? Sociologist C. Ray Borck shows how—contrary...

Debates

Building a Resilient and Equitable City: How to Advance Environmental Justice Through the OneNYC Plan

Eddie Bautista & Annel Hernandez & Juan Camilo Osorio & Pamela Soto - 1 March 2017

Many of the challenges that cities face today stem from historic and entrenched systemic policies and processes that...

Debates

On Our Own: Protecting and Developing Social Housing in the Trump Era

John Krinsky - 13 January 2017

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

Debates

On Clinton, Obama, Trump and the Failures of Liberal Urban Policy

James DeFilippis - 15 November 2016

Many progressives are still in shock at the outcome of the recent US presidential election. In this contribution to...

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...

Debates

Let Bodegas Be Bodegas

Dory Thrasher - 20 September 2016

A new rule proposed by the US Department of Agriculture would impose new stocking rules on food stores that accept...

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...

Debates

Streetcars Named Desire

Luc Gwiazdzinski & translated by Oliver Waine - 15 March 2016

Luc Gwiazdzinski provides an original and critical analysis of the changes affecting today’s cities and contemporary...

Debates

Impossible Compliance: Policing as Violent Struggle over Bodies and Urban Space

Michelle Billies - 1 March 2016

The absence of charges brought in the case of a police murder of a Black lesbian in front of the homeless shelter...

Debates

Reskilling Urban Manufacturing: Workforce Solutions from the Inside Out

Nichola Lowe - 15 December 2015

In the United States, a four-year college education has gradually come to be assumed as a prerequisite for entry into...

Debates

Understanding São Paulo’s Bicycle Wars

Derek Pardue - 8 December 2015

In São Paulo, Brazil, bike lanes are a new phenomenon in a city historically dominated by automobiles. In the context...

Debates

To Prevent Worsening Inequality, Put Affluent Neighborhoods on NYC Rezoning List

Moses Gates - 17 November 2015

Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning is meant to boost the affordable housing supply and create more economically integrated...

Debates

A flat-rate travel card for the Paris region: revolution or illusion?

Marie-Hélène Massot & translated by Oliver Waine - 6 November 2015

Fare “dezoning” in the Paris region – a key reform to mark the end of Jean-Paul Huchon’s term as leader of...

Debates

Artists and Industry: Friends or Foes?

Paul Parkhill - 3 November 2015

Anti-gentrification activists have castigated artists’ lofts as the vanguard of gentrification, while cities have...

Debates

Social housing in Africa: a model to be (re)invented?

Alexandra Biehler & Armelle Choplin & Marie Morelle & translated by Oliver Waine - 16 October 2015

While the question of housing for working-class populations remains a recurrent issue in sub‑Saharan African cities,...

Debates

The Endangered Enclave

Mike Owen Benediktsson & Brian Lamberta & Sarah Van Norden - 6 October 2015

While most gentrification studies focus on residential displacement, businesses also suffer from rising rents and a...

Debates

Disarm the Police

Gregory Smithsimon - 29 September 2015

In the current political debates about discriminatory policing, there has been a lack of serious discussion of...

Debates

Hardening Racial Lines in Public Space

Naomi Adiv - 7 July 2015

On Friday, June 5, Black teenagers in McKinney, Texas, were violently subdued by a police officer following a...

Debates

New York’s de Blasio bargains with FIRE

Tom Waters - 16 June 2015

Frantic deal-making over an obscure but costly New York City real-estate tax incentive (421‑a) provides a window into...

Debates

Visual Boredom: Commodification and Exclusion in Graffiti-Less Auckland

Ronald Kramer - 26 May 2015

A common argument against neoliberalism is that it makes cities all look alike. In this piece, sociologist Ronald...

Debates

Occupy Mall Street?

Anthony Maniscalco - 21 April 2015

The quintessential suburb is home to the shopping mall, an indoor space of anchor departments stores, small specialty...

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