For those that aren't familiar, AREA publishes biannually around set themes, this time they've asked activists, educators, artists and academics to write around policy experimentation in Chicago.

The latest is focusing discussions around neoliberal policy in the city, and thinking about Chicago as a testing ground for (multi)national initiatives. Think CHA's Plan for Transformation, Ren 2010, and the continued privatization of public space around Chicago, and you'll get a good feel for the issues they're discussing.

Of chief concern is the continued withering away of the welfare state and the further development of the privatized public sphere composed of charter schools, mixed income privately developed public housing and tourist attracting downtown infrastructure.

There's too rarely serious discussions of history, ideology, and political economy in the alternative press. Good stuff.