The gerrymandering of cities and the politics of racial exclusion: Evidence from a spatial typology of municipal boundary changes

Abstract

ABSTRACT Municipal annexation is the most common means by which local governments in the United States redraw their jurisdictional borders. The highly contentious process often leads to the gerrymandering of city borders. In this study, we use the Python programming language to develop a method for identifying areas that have been annexed by or excluded from cities via the gerrymandering of their jurisdictional borders. Through analyses of all cities in the nation, as well as selected growing cities, we illustrate the extent of municipal gerrymandering and its disproportionate impact on communities of color. Our findings point toward the need for renewed attention to the role of local government boundaries, and in particular the routine expansion of these boundaries via annexation, in the creation and perpetuation of spatial inequality.