It's been really interesting to dive deep into these literatures and to learn more about the intellectual histories of urban studies.

By the end of the class, some students really like the Chicago School, most don’t. But I believe both proponents and critics have a lot to gain from a closer engagement with human ecology. A closer engagement with its various lineages can be inspiring or lead to more sophisticated critiques.

I believe this is important because the Chicago legacy includes some powerful insights. It’s also essential for understanding the genealogy of critical approaches, which are often articulated in opposition to the Chicago School.

The paper grew out of conversations in my Urban Debates course, part of the Research Master’s in Urban Studies at the University of Amsterdam. In the course and the paper, I try to take the Chicago sociologists seriously.

Nevertheless, our study does suggest that there may be overlooked forces pushing cities toward greater equality. This is a hopeful for urbanites and an intriguing for scholars of inequalities and cities.

We do a lot of hedging in the paper. Our data doesn’t capture all forms of inequality nor the impacts of long-term threats like climate change, so we caution that our findings shouldn’t be read as a validation of current policies. Survey data come with many limitations.

Here’s what surprised us: Inequalities declined in most cities on most indicators. The middle class grew. Living standards converged. Educational inequality decreased. Although there are exceptions, the trend has been towards greater equality. The literature had not prepared us for for this finding.

We can’t offer a definitive answer since there are many ways to conceptualize and understand inequality. And despite Fred's heroic efforts to construct a comprehensive dataset with @ipums.bsky.social survey data, we lack consistent historical data.

Intriguing to read how local traditions, cultural icons, and social customs are created or revamped through (partly orchestrated, partly serendipitous) social media trends.

"Central to the making of a wanghong city is a
series of strategic actions involving speculation, hedging, and/or opportunity-taking—terms that are all too familiar to tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists"