Bringing Diverse Perspectives to Study Policy in the St. Louis Region
The St. Louis Policy Initiative brings diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives to study policy in our region. Substantively, our research agendas engage with the most pressing policy challenges in society today. We will explore the relationship between racial segregation, political representation, housing policy, public health outcomes, and environmental outcomes in urban cores and their suburbs. For example, how does political representation translate into improved public health outcomes? To what extent do environmental factors drive disparities in home prices in Black and white neighborhoods?
Additionally, our initiative will serve as a bridge across other St. Louis-focused research projects, as well as research on urban politics more generally. We will create two resources to reduce the barriers to studying the region.
First, the St. Louis Data Dashboard will be a public-facing repository for regional data that will allow non-experts to explore data visualizations and enable experts to obtain, analyze and contribute data. It will lower barriers to studying the region by allowing centralized and easy access to health, environmental, political, and economic data, thereby allowing scholars to readily consider an array of relationships in their analyses.
Second, the St. Louis Survey will provide a gauge of the region’s political, economic, and social views as well as the lived experience across these domains. Surveys will include a core battery of questions about economic well-being, racial discrimination, health, social engagement, political participation, political preferences, and trust in institutions.
