A Note from the Editors

We have all been rocked by the murder of George Floyd. Transformational change to policing in cities throughout the world has been demanded for decades, but the racism, excessive force, and unaccountable behavior have persisted alongside discriminatory practices in other areas of urban life – work, housing, health, education – that have long denied life and livelihoods to Black and Indigenous people of color. This time must be different. As we know better than most, truly transformational change is not achieved without a real understanding of the problem or potential solutions. Our community of urban scholars has long been engaged in the work needed to make clear how these issues harm our society, and most especially people of color. From time to time, we will highlight research from UAR to help your efforts to push our knowledge forward and make this time different.

Phil Ashton, Peter Burns, Jered Carr, Joshua Drucker, and Yue Zhang

Co-Editors, Urban Affairs Review

Articles on Policing and Race

Note: SAGE Publishing has made these article open-access through mid-August at least.

The Pictures in Their Heads: How U.S. Mayors Think About Racial Inequality by Katherine Levine Einstein, Luisa Godinez Puig, and Spencer Piston. This article can be found online.

Reasonable Suspicion in the Eye of the Beholder: Routine Policing in Racially Different Disadvantaged Neighborhoods by Shytierra Gaston and Rod K. Brunson. This article can be found online or in Volume 56, Issue 1.

Coffee Shops and Street Stops: Policing Practices in Gentrifying Neighborhoods by Ayobami Laniyonu. This article can be found online or in Volume 54, Issue 5. Check out the Forum post for this article here.

No Right to Rest: Police Enforcement Patterns and Quality of Life Consequences of the Criminalization of Homelessness by Tony Robinson. This article can be found online or in Volume 55, Issue 1. Check out the Forum post for this article here.

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