Back to Basics: Two Issue Areas for the Future Urban Politics Agenda

Abstract

This essay argues for the importance of two areas of inquiry in the future agenda of urban politics: urban infrastructure and urban policing. Both topical areas have deep roots in the field. However, this essay argues that we know less than we should about how varied institutional arrangements used to produce and manage urban infrastructure might help account for quality and equity problems of urban infrastructure. This essay also argues that urban politics research on local policing has diminished relative to contributions from other disciplines and the interdisciplinary criminal justice field, resulting in important substantive gaps and biases in topical coverage because the distinctive voice of political science is much too muted. The kinds of police‐related research themes or topics that need additional work from an urban politics perspective are outlined.

From Revanchism to Inclusion: Institutional Forms of Planning and Police in Hyde Park, Chicago

“…This special issue addresses recent calls for urban scholars to research the city-making work of the criminal-justice system (Derickson 2017; Roy 2017; Sharp 2014a). In my paper, I explore how plans can create new forms of police within the racial state.…”