Place Matters: Metropolitics for the 21st Century

Posted by on April 21, 2014

Peter Dreier, John Mollenkopf, and Todd Swanstrom proudly announce that the third edition of PLACE MATTERS: METROPOLITICS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY will be out in August and available for Fall 2014 course adoption. You can learn more about the book at the University Press of Kansas website, which includes the Table of Contents and a link for requesting an exam copy.

The many colleagues who used the first two editions of PLACE MATTERS for undergraduate and graduate courses in political science, sociology, urban planning, urban studies, geography, economics, social work, and even religious studies praised it for being clearly written, well-organized, and provocative.

Economic inequality has finally entered the mainstream of American political debate. PLACE MATTERS shows how rising economic segregation and concentrated poverty contribute to economic inequality. Providing a comprehensive synthesis of the scholarly literature on place, life chances, and politics, PLACE MATTERS demonstrates how Americans of different economic classes have grown further apart in where they live, work, and play. To illustrate the human impact, each chapter begins with a story about how ordinary people cope with spatial inequalities in their daily lives.

This thoroughly revised new edition incorporates the latest Census demographics and analyzes voting trends from the 2012 elections. It strengthens the sections on the urban fiscal crisis (including the troubles in Detroit) and how American cities compare with cities in other democratic societies in the global economy. It explores the latest regional efforts to solve urban problems and the wave of local movements (such as local living wage laws) to deal with widening inequality. We examine conservative, liberal and progressive approaches to urban politics and policy with past and current examples . The history of federal urban policy now includes the Obama years and we examine the Wall Street meltdown and resulting housing crisis. Finally, drawing on new research on urban inequalities, we update our proposed federal policy agenda.

We don’t simply lament the trends of rising economic inequality and segregation. We challenge students to think about what can be done to address them. We show how citizens can generate the political will to put the country’s “urban crisis” back on the national agenda. And we outline practical steps to address our major urban problems, including poverty, unemployment, crime, traffic congestion, toxic pollution, failing schools, soaring energy consumption, and substandard housing.

Feel free to contact Peter (dreier@oxy.edu), John (jmollenkopf@gc.cuny.edu) , or Todd (swanstromt@umsl.edu) if you have any questions about the book.