Reports a 15-day study of contemporary urban problems. (RD)

Jamaica experienced organized violence from 1976 to 1980, when general elections were held. Describes field work carried out in ghettos and shanty towns which mapped the rigid geographical polarization of Jamaica and its effects on employment, education, and migration. The geographic framework for a resumption of hostilities remains. (CS)

Proliferating the number of decision centers and separating needs from resources minimizes the ability of metropolitan areas to deal with areawide problems. State governments often encourage such fragmentation to minimize the risk that a given metropolitan area would act in a cohesive fashion. (Author/KC)

Compared homeless aged men who live on the Bowry or in hotel rooms in New York City. Results showed homelessness is not a uniform category. Sociability differentiated them from nonhomeless age peers and socioeconomic status differentiated the two groups; also found differences in each groups' social adaptation. (Author/JAC)

This article is an extension of Welch and Karnig's (1978) school board study analyzing Black representation. The sample size was increased from the original 43 to 75 central cities. Unlike Welch and Karnig, new results showed that at-large electoral systems significantly reduce proportionally based equitable Black representation. (Author/AM)

Views suicide as an historical indicator of social factors related to urbanization and urban life. Discusses historical and contemporary problems with data collection, especially in terms of race and sex of victims and underreporting among particular groups. Suggests theoretical approaches to the study of suicide in contemporary society. (GC)

Urban education is working and will continue to work if budgetary problems are resolved. Urban schools can and will succeed if less emphasis is put on negative issues, such as crime. (CJ)

A working coalition between environmentalists and the civil rights movement offers opportunities for cooperation in issues of pollution control, energy conservation, and sound economic development. (RE)

Los Angeles is rapidly becoming more diverse. Its future depends upon whether educational needs can be met and whether public transportation can be developed that ends the isolation of the many "villages" that make up the area and enables them to work together. (EVL)

Discusses the economic implications of the recommendations of "Health Care for the Homeless," the controversial supplementary statement to the Institute of Medicine's report, "Homelessness, Health and Human Needs." Concludes that the original report presents a more politically realistic approach to the problems of the homeless…

Describes the City at Peace program originated in Washington, DC, by Creative Response, a nonprofit group that promotes international peace and cross-cultural understanding through the performing arts. The Washington program staged an original musical in January 1993, written and performed by local teenagers, about the problems of racism, drug…

Explores "alternative delivery systems" in inner-city education, the variety of programs and schools available to children being educated in the urban centers. Traces the origins of the problems of urban schools, describes the articles of this special issue, and identifies themes that emerge in attempts to solve urban school problems. Contains 18…

Reviews problems associated with urban crime, describing the extent and costs of victimization and discussing criminal justice and health care approaches to reducing violence. Research suggests that the health care approach can successfully reduce crime and violence in African-American communities. Contains 53 references. (SLD)

Discusses the factors responsible for the ambivalent and confused attitudes toward the urban university, including sources of resistance. Current rhetoric suggests that what used to be called urban problems is now metropolitan or human problems with the corresponding reconceptualizations of urban universities as metropolitan or generic, thus…