Why It's So Incredibly Difficult to Fight Urban Inequality

The story of American cities today is one increasingly defined by a contradiction, as incredible wealth and advantage thrive alongside increasingly intractable pockets of concentrated disadvantage. Perhaps more so than the fact of inequality itself, the stubborn geography of class is the most troubling reality modern cities face.

The landslide victory of New York's Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio earlier this week has been seen as a referendum on this "tale of two cities." In his victory speech at the Park Slope Armory, de Blasio redoubled his commitment to tackling the worrying relationship between geography, inequality and poverty. "The best and the brightest are born in every neighborhood," he said. “We all have a shared responsibility and a shared stake in making sure their destiny is defined by how hard they work and how big they dream, and not by their ZIP code."