UAR Remixed

In this episode, we’re speaking with Daniel Wortel-London, author of The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1865-1981. In this book, Dr. Wortel-London chronicles how periodic economic crises have shaped New York City’s modern history — and how alternative strategies for sustainable, democratic growth are possible. Get the book! The Menace of Prosperity:...

We interview Dr. Shani Evans, author of We Belong Here: Gentrification, White Spacemaking, and a Black Sense of Place , published in 2025 by University of Chicago Press. In We Belong Here , Shani Evans explores the dynamics of gentrification from the inside through a case study of Northeast Portland, OR, a historically black neighborhood. Drawing on a rich inventory of ethnographic fieldwork, this...

Tune in to hear from Dr. Rachel Humphris on her new book, Making Sanctuary Cities: Migration, Citizenship, and Urban Governance, published in 2025 by Stanford University Press. Making Sanctuary Cities investigates the complex policy frameworks that shape urban immigration and the politics of belonging through ethnographic and archival research on three cities: San Francisco, Toronto, and Sheffield...

In this episode, we’re speaking with Nyron Crawford, author of Marked Men: Black Politicians and the Racialization of Scandal, published in 2024 by NYU Press. Marked Men complicates the common perception that Black elected officials are forgiven for their transgressions because of the commitments and benefits made to constituents. Instead, Crawford demonstrates that “racialized suspicion” shapes t...

Tune in for our conversation with Laureen Hom, author of The Power of Chinatown: Searching for Spatial Justice in Los Angeles, published in 2024 by University of California Press. In The Power of Chinatown, Hom draws on ethnographic fieldwork to explore how and under what conditions residents and business owners in LA’s Chinatown challenge and mobilize dynamics of gentrification and community chan...

In this episode, we’re speaking with Claudia Gastrow, author of The Aesthetics of Belonging: Indigenous Urbanism and City Building in Oil-Boom Luanda , published in 2024 by University of North Carolina Press. The Aesthetics of Belonging draws on archival and ethnographic research to explore the political significance of aesthetics in the remaking of Luanda. Get the book! The Aesthetics of Belongin...

Tune in for our conversation with Willow Lung-Amam, author of The Right to Suburbia: Combating Gentrification on the Urban Edge , published in 2024 by UC Press. The Right to Suburbia chronicles the efforts of community activists, political leaders, and community groups in three Washington, D.C.-area suburbs to push back on the displacement effects of new development in their communities. Get the b...

Listen to our conversation with Gregg Colburn, co-author with Rebecca Walter of Affordable Housing in the United States , published in 2024 by Routledge. Affordable Housing in the United States offers a comprehensive and accessible guide for students and practitioners on affordable housing policy and best practices, along with well-researched case studies on the approaches of three different citie...

Tune in to our discussion with co-authors Thad Williamson and Julian Hayter about their new book, The Making of Twenty-First-Century Richmond (2024). The book explores the fraught history of Richmond, VA, a mid-sized city working to emerge from the shadows of its early history as the capital of the Confederacy and the challenges of urban decline in recent decades. Drawing on multidisciplinary meth...

Join us for an exploration of the failed Philadelphia 76ers Arena Proposal in Center City. First proposed in 2022 with promises to revitalize the faltering Market East corridor, the arena generated tremendous and widespread backlash from communities across the city and region. The project, which was publicly and strongly backed by Mayor Cherelle Parker, was ultimately cancelled in early 2025, only...

Join us for an exploration of the failed Philadelphia 76ers Arena Proposal in Center City. First proposed in 2022 with promises to revitalize the faltering Market East corridor, the arena generated tremendous and widespread backlash from communities across the city and region. The project, which was publicly and strongly backed by Mayor Cherelle Parker, was ultimately cancelled in early 2025, only...

Join us for an exploration of the failed Philadelphia 76ers Arena Proposal in Center City. First proposed in 2022 with promises to revitalize the faltering Market East corridor, the arena generated tremendous and widespread backlash from communities across the city and region. The project, which was publicly and strongly backed by Mayor Cherelle Parker, was ultimately cancelled in early 2025, only...

Join us for an exploration of the failed Philadelphia 76ers Arena Proposal in Center City. First proposed in 2022 with promises to revitalize the faltering Market East corridor, the arena generated tremendous and widespread backlash from communities across the city and region. The project, which was publicly and strongly backed by Mayor Cherelle Parker, was ultimately cancelled in early 2025, only...

Join us for our conversation with Dr. Kristin Skrabut, author of Unruly Domestication: Poverty, Family, and Statecraft in Urban Peru , published in 2024 by the University of Texas Press. Unruly Domestication explores how Peru's "war on poverty" took shape in the city of Lima through extensive ethnographic research to better understand how the politics of poverty, statecraft, and family structure b...

Featuring Maliha Safri, Marianna Pavlovskaya, Craig Borowiak, and Stephen Healy, authors of Solidarity Cities: Confronting Racial Capitalism, Mapping Transformation , published by University of Minnesota Press. Solidarity Cities explores the diverse practices of cooperation and mutual support as alternatives to racial capitalism through case studies of Philadelphia, Worcester, MA, and New York Cit...

Featuring Alissa Walter, author of Contested City: Citizen Advocacy and Survival in Modern Baghdad published in 2025 by Stanford University Press. Contested City charts the political history of modern Baghdad and how residents navigated and negotiated with the state through periods of economic growth, war, and sanctions. Get the book! Contested City: Citizen Advocacy and Survival in Modern Baghdad...

Featuring Ben Bradlow, author of Urban Power: Democracy and Inequality in São Paulo and Johannesburg published in 2024 by Princeton University Press. Urban Power examines how social inequalities are created and addressed through the urban built environment by comparing the case studies of São Paulo and Johannesburg. Get the book! Urban Power: Democracy and Inequality in São Paulo and Johannesburg...

Featuring Theodore Greene, author of Not in My Gayborhood! Gay Neighborhoods and the Rise of the Vicarious Citizen from Columbia University Press (2024). Not in My Gayborhood explores “gayborhoods” in Washington, DC, Greene investigates how neighborhoods retain their cultural identities even as their inhabitants change. Get the book! Not in My Gayborhood! Gay Neighboorhoods and the Rise of the Vic...

Featuring Lawrence Vale and Zachary Lamb, co-authors of The Equitably Resilient City: Solidarities and Struggles in the Face of Climate Crisis , published in 2024 by MIT Press. Their book, which draws on research from twelve unique case studies around the world, asks how cities can respond to climate change and still commit to maintaining and improving the lives of their most disadvantaged residen...

In this two-part miniseries, UAR Remixed speaks with several authors from the journal’s recent symposium, “The Intrinsic Relationship between Local Politics and Public Health.” We speak with the authors about their research, which covers a wide breadth of topics and ideas at the intersection of public health and politics in local contexts. In Part 1, we meet the authors and learn more about the bi...

In this two-part miniseries, UAR Remixed speaks with several authors from the journal’s recent symposium, “The Intrinsic Relationship between Local Politics and Public Health.” We speak with the authors about their research, which covers a wide breadth of topics and ideas at the intersection of public health and politics in local contexts. In Part 1, we meet the authors and learn more about the bi...

Looking closely at New York City’s political development since the 1970s, three “political orders”—conservativism, neoliberalism, and egalitarianism—emerged. In  Inequality, Crime, and Resistance in New York City , Timothy Weaver argues that the intercurrent impact of these orders has created a constant battle for power. Weaver brings these clashes to the fore by showing how New York City pol...

Reforming Philadelphia  examines the cyclical efforts of insurgents to change the city’s government over nearly 350 years. Political scientist Richardson Dilworth tracks reformers as they create a new purpose for the city or reshape the government to reflect emerging ideas. Some wish to thwart the “corrupt machine,” while others seek to gain control of the government via elections. These acto...

This special series, “Political Lessons from American Cities,” is presented courtesy of Temple University Press . In this episode, you'll hear from Jennifer A. Heerwig (Stony Brook University) and Brian J. McCabe (Georgetown University) about their book, Democracy Vouchers and the Promise of Fairer Elections in Seattle. In 2017, Seattle inaugurated a new way for citizens to be involved in democrac...

This special series, “Political Lessons from American Cities,” is presented courtesy of Temple University Press . In this episode, you'll hear from Els de Graauw (Baruch College/CUNY Graduate Center) and Shannon Gleeson (Cornell University) about their book, "Advancing Immigrant Rights in Houston." Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the United States and has long been a prime destination...