Polis: Fordham in Urban Studies

How Mayor Ray Flynn's leadership and a coalition of activists transformed Boston, challenging established powers and setting new precedents for urban governance The Battle for Boston captures the remarkable era under Mayor Ray Flynn, whose election in 1983 marked the beginning of a profound shift in the city's political and social landscape. Don Gillis, a Flynn senior advisor, chronicles the inspiring journey of a city that dared to challenge the entrenched power brokers-including developers, landlords, and banking industry leaders-through powerful grassroots campaigns. Gillis provides a vivid portrayal of the political dynamics and the coalition of community organiz­ers, neighborhood leaders, and residents that played a pivotal role in rejecting the business-backed growth machine and the city's historically divisive racial politics. This book charts the strategic battles fought within the corridors of power and on the streets and highlights the substantial impact these movements had on the city's governance and power dynamics. In a historic turn, in 2021, Michelle Wu became the first woman, person of color, and Asian- American elected Mayor of Boston. Wu's victory on a similarly progressive platform as Flynn underscores the enduring relevance of his legacy, signaling a hopeful future for more inclusive and effectively governed cities. The Battle for Boston poses a critical inquiry: Can cities truly embrace progressivism and gov­ern effectively in the twenty-first century? This qualitative narrative study is a testament to the possibility of such governance, driven by the indomitable spirit of those who strive for a fair and equitable society.

Why does injustice often deepen during moments of rapid urban growth? And what does the pursuit of more just urban futures look like when the realization of alternatives seems impossible? African cities have boomed over the last two decades. Large-scale infrastructure projects, high-rises, and real estate ventures have transformed urban landscapes. While urban poverty levels have declined, rising housing costs, stagnant wages, and forced evictions-twinned with political authoritarianism-have intensified precarity and injustice. Drawing on more than a decade of ethnographic research in construction sites, design offices, and new developments, anthropologist Marco Di Nunzio narrates the tensions animating the urban transformation that has reshaped Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, beyond recognition. Unjust Developments reminds us that city building in Addis Ababa, as elsewhere, is not only about economic accumulation. It is a moral project, rooted in the belief that modern infrastruc­ture will generate opportunity and uplift the poor. These promises have often failed the poor. Commitments to infrastructure have given political leaders, investors, planners, developers, and architects the leverage to prioritize their own visions of development and dismiss demands for better wages and affordable housing as politically irrelevant or economically unviable. Government and corporate investments in the built environment have helped entrench unequal hierarchies of entitlement and rights. Yet city building remains a fragile achievement. It is marked by struggles not only between developers and displaced communities, or companies and workers, but also among the city build­ers themselves. Demands for a more just city and frictions within the building industry open space for rearticulating what counts as political necessity, moral action, expertise, and the future of development. In conversation with critical urbanism, anthropology, and moral philosophy, Unjust Developments offers a powerful account of city building as both a site of injustice and a terrain of struggle-where justice is not guaranteed, but persistently demanded.

An on-the-ground study of how faith communities create belonging and build bridges across one of the most diverse urban landscapes in the world Micro-City follows congregations, clergy, and everyday New Yorkers across twelve Queens neigh­borhoods to show how religious life both shelters difference and connects it in public. Blending theories from urban sociology and the sociology of religion with fieldwork, Richard Cimino and Hans Tokke map a borough where no single group is the majority and where people cluster into micro-communities that feel like home, yet still meet, trade, vote, and celebrate across lines of ethnicity, language, and creed. For readers interested in neighborhoods, culture, and faith, it offers a street-level tour of festivals, storefront churches, temples, parades, and parks. For scholars, students, and practitioners in urban studies, sociology of religion, and American studies, it sets out a usable framework for superdiversity grounded in interaction rituals and congregational niches, showing how bonding and bridging social capital take shape. Clergy, community organizers, and planners will find practical insights into how congregations act as specialist and generalist hubs, shaping neighborhood belonging, civic life, and cross-group cooperation. Readers encounter Little Guyana’s Liberty Avenue, Greek Astoria, Pan-Asian Bayside, Holy Hip-Hop in Hollis, Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu temples, and hipster Hunters Point. Along the way the authors introduce archetypes such as pastor- and pundit-preneurs, civic Catholicism and charismatics, Black-clergy groups, and show how religious culture influences neighborhood politics and everyday coexistence. The result is a field guide to how plural cities work, and how they can work better.