Social Sciences Speaker Series: "Elections, Policy and Global Cities: What to expect after a change election"

The choices that citizens make when they vote (or abstain from voting) are premised on a complex range of competing beliefs, ideas, aspirations, interests and emotions. But—whether it’s an election for a powerful office such as President of the United States or a referendum of global importance such as the British exit from the European Union—only when policy is made and implemented do voters begin to know what they have really chosen.

In the aftermath of the elections of 2016, uncertainty over policy abounds. And it is likely that 2017 will bring even more uncertainty.

The Illinois Tech Department of Social Sciences will host a panel of academic experts to share their thoughts on the changes set in motion by recent elections as they begin to impact the wellbeing of the majority of the world’s citizens who now live in urban areas. Speakers will draw on their knowledge of Chicago and other global cities to consider the effects of electoral change on such vital areas as fiscal policy, infrastructure, housing, security, social inequality, and environmental sustainability.

Light refreshments will be served after the panel discussion.

Invited Speakers

Daniel Bliss
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Illinois Institute of Technology

“Economic Development in Trump’s Small-Town America”

Winifred Curran
Associate Professor of Geography
DePaul University

“No Sanctuary: Cities on the Front Line in the Age of Trump”

David Gordon
Assistant Professor of Politics
University of California, Santa Cruz

“Can Cities Govern the Globe? Prospects and Pitfalls in a Populist Time”

Michael A. Pagano
Dean, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
University of Illinois at Chicago

“Are Cities Always in Fiscal Crisis? When Reality and Fiction Collide”