Reflections on Neighborhoods and Collective Efficacy

By Charlie Collins Transforming social cohesion into informal social control: Deconstructing collective efficacy and the moderating role of neighborhood racial homogeneity, by Charles R. Collins, Zachary P. Neal, and Jennifer Watling Neal, was published in Volume 39, Issue 3 of the Journal of Urban Affairs and is currently available for free access for a limited…

Book Review Preview: The New Urban Crisis

By Jason Plummer Florida, Richard, The New Urban Crisis: How our cities are increasing inequality, deepening segregation, and failing the middle class – and what we can do about it. (New York:  Basic Books, 2017) Florida’s stated purpose for writing The New Urban Crisis to (1) define the new urban crisis, (2) identify the forces…

Book Review Preview: Urban Policy in the Time of Obama

By Dennis Gale James DeFilippis, ed. Urban Policy in the Time of Obama. (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2016) This volume does a commendable job of documenting the often-fragmented bits of legislation, executive orders and regulations targeting cities that were promulgated in Washington between 2009 and 2016. Its 22 contributors offer 19 articles…

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Human Dynamics in Smart and Connected Communities

An Open Call for Submissions: Special Issue of Journal of Urban Affairs on “Human Dynamics in Smart and Connected Communities” Special Issue Guest Editors: Daniel Sui, Ohio State University, USA (Sui.10@osu.edu) & Shih‐Lung Shaw, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA (sshaw@utk.edu) Abstracts due: July 15, 2017 Aims and Scope Advancements in location‐aware technology, information and communication…

Book Review Preview: Sustainable London

By Samantha McLean Rob Imrie and Loretta Lees (eds), Sustainable London? The Future of a Global City (Bristol, UK: Policy Press, 2014) ‘Sustainable development’ has become a buzzword in the vernacular of urban policy, yet the term’s ambiguity has made it conveniently adoptable by policy makers wishing to further their own development goals. Sustainable London?…

Book Review Preview: The Brooklyn Nobody Knows

By John Shapiro William B. Helmreich, The Brooklyn Nobody Knows: An Urban Walking Guide (Princeton, NJ:  Princeton University Press, 2016). Did you know that… Barak Obama once lived in Park Slope. So did Al Capone. Bushwick’s unconstrained graffiti art is really a changing exhibit managed by a collective. In Gerritsen Beach, a favorite pastime is…

Book Review Preview: Space and Pluralism

By Anne B. Shlay Stefano Moroni and David Weberman (eds.), Space and Pluralism: Can Contemporary Cities be Places of Tolerance? (New York, NY: Central European University Press, 2016). Spaces and Pluralism is a tough read that speaks to issues that have plagued humanity for centuries but have intensified in recent years.  It asks “can contemporary…

Geographies of Impact and Readership

By Nick Schuermans, Bruno Meeus & Pascal De Decker Last year, we were caught by a very pleasant surprise. With “Geographies of whiteness and wealth: White, middle class discourses on segregation and social mix in Flanders, Belgium,” we won the 2016 best paper award in the Journal of Urban Affairs. Meanwhile, our paper has also…

Book Review Preview: Somalis in the Twin Cities and Columbus

By Benny Carlson Stefanie Chambers, Somalis in the Twin Cities and Columbus. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2017). On November 6, 2016, two days before the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump branded the Somali community in Minnesota “a disaster”. On February 18, 2017, he pointed to Sweden as a failed immigrant country. These statements make it…

The Reviews are Coming in on the New JUA!

By Jeanette Eckert As Editor-in-Chief Igor Vojnovic wrote on the blog last month, 2017 is an exciting year for the Journal of Urban Affairs. A new publisher, new cover art, several planned special issues, and more issues per year are among the changes, and we're getting great feedback already. But don't just take my word…