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Teaching Urban Politics and Urban Policy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 September 2016
Extract
We are a nation of cities. The 1980 census reported that almost three out of every four Americans lived in urban areas, and estimates are that the 1990 census will show that the proportion of the population living in urban areas will increase further. Many of the nation's most pressing domestic problems deeply affect the well being of urban residents: welfare reform, homelessness, substance abuse, education, health care for the uninsured, quality of the work force, and the like, all have significant urban dimensions. And while we may never see “urban” regain the popularity it obtained during most of the 1960s, any policy response designed to address these pressing problems will have a major urban component; whether it is called urban policy is another matter. It was interesting to observe during the past presidential campaign how frightened the candidates were of using the word urban or city. While I have not yet seen a content analysis of the 1988 election campaign, the words urban and city were noticeably absent from the debates, speeches, and sound bites. We did, however, hear a lot about community in one of the debates.
The purpose of this essay is to highlight some of the prominent issues cities and their residents are likely to face in the 1990s, with emphasis on ways in which these issues can be structured into an undergraduate urban policies and urban policy curriculum through reference to the recent book literature.
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- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1990
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