Robert Vargas, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of the Violence, Law, and Politics Lab, University of Chicago.
Using digitized maps of all city council political districts in the cities of Chicago, St Louis, and Milwaukee from their founding in the 19th century to the present, this study asks: how frequently do blocks in a city change wards?
Findings reveal that approximately 15% of city blocks have remained in the same political districts since the 19th century, and that these spaces are spatially clustered in neighborhoods home to local political, economic, and administrative elites. Results from cross-sectional regression models suggest that a combination of political, economic, and ecological factors are responsible for the production of these distinct political territories.
Overall, findings reveal the need to rethink "one-person-one-vote", conceptualize cities as composed of territories, and begin to unpack the consequences of political territories for the production of spatial inequality.
About the speaker
Robert Vargas is a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Sociology and founding Director of the Violence, Law, and Politics Lab at the University of Chicago. His research examines how redistricting laws, bureaucracies, and public policies shape the conditions of cities, with a particular focus on violence and health care.
His award-winning book, Wounded City: Violent Turf Wars in a Chicago Barrio (Oxford University Press, 2016), shows the relationship between ward boundary redistricting and block-level violence in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago.
A Chicago native, Professor Vargas also consults on numerous local policy initiatives for foundations and nonprofit organizations.
Learn more about Robert Vargas's work
robvargas.com
LOCATION:Allison Dining Room STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20191118T170000Z DTEND:20191118T183000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR