With his background as a community organizer and as a state legislator representing Chicago s South Side, Barack Obama became America s most urban president since Teddy Roosevelt. But what has been his record in dealing with the issues most impacting our metropolitan areas today? Looking past the current administration, what are the future prospects of the nation s cities, and how have they been shaped by our policies in this century? Seeking to answer these questions, the contributors to "Urban Policy in the Time of Obama" explore a broad range of policy arenas that shape, both directly and indirectly, metropolitan areas and urbanization processes.