Regional equity as a field of scholarship, as an arena of policy change, and as a social movement has grown, diversified, and matured in important ways over the past decade. The fruits of that growth and development can be seen in recent federal and state policies, in the practices of many regional planning organizations, and in the agendas and approaches of countless community-based organizations and issue advocacy groups.

As the field has expanded, a growing number of researchers have been tracking these phenomena: explaining how and why concepts of metropolitan development are being reframed; documenting the efforts to shape policies and diversify leadership; assessing where and how equity and social justice concerns have been brought into regional planning for transportation, land use, housing, public finances, environmental quality, smart growth, sustainable development, public health and other issue areas. This volume brings together analyses and commentary by some of the leading scholarly observers these timely developments.

This book was published as a special issue of Community Development.