Editors' Introduction

• Author: Gary VanLandingham,Kimberley R. Isett,Brian W. Head
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12854
• Published date: 01 November 2017
• Date: 01 November 2017

817

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 6, pp. 817. © 2017 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12854.

T his issue of the Evidence in Public

Administration feature explores perspectives

on the use of evidence in addressing issues

of equity and social justice in large cities. The essay

by Matias Valenzuela reflects the perspectives of an

engaged senior practitioner, attempting to implement

effective new programs informed both by social

equity values and by robust evidence concerning

effectiveness. He points to the need for policy

innovation, not only for developing new strategies

through an inclusive process, but also for gathering

and analyzing evidence about what can produce

improved results. In his view, coping with these

complexities requires integrating the “equity lens”

into all the planning and program activities of public

authorities. In response, the commentary by Susan

T. Gooden discusses how scholarly research on the

evidence base for social equity programs complements

the analysis by Valenzuela. She notes that previous

social equity measures were largely focused on

documenting the serious disparities. But new tools

and resources are being developed to assist local

governments in designing and evaluating measures

for reducing social inequities. Future developments

should support benchmarking for comparative

studies, and identification of best practices.

Kimberley R. Isett

Georgia Institute of Technology

Brian W. Head

University of Queensland , Australia

Gary VanLandingham

Florida State University

Evidence in Public

Administration

Editors’

Introduction