Annika Marlen Hinze is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Director of Urban Studies at Fordham University, USA. Her research and teaching focus on urban politics, identity politics, immigration, qualitative and mixed methods research, and gender politics in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Turkey.

James M. Smith is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Master of Public Affairs program at Indiana University South Bend, USA. His research focuses on urban governance and institutions in U.S. cities, and he teaches courses in the Political Science Department focused on American political institutions, and in the Master of Public Affairs program on urban planning and public policy.