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This study examines often-overlooked youth perspectives on the sociospatial changes happening in a community experiencing Black displacement, mass Latinx immigration, and impending gentrification. To date, studies of complex urban change rarely consider the ways in which young people perceive and produce place differently from adults. Drawing on Critical Race Spatial Analysis and related literature, this critical phenomenological study centers the experiences youth of color living and learning in South Central Los Angeles. In doing so, this article draws on walking interview data from a larger place sensitive study. This study found that youth of color in South Central derive keen, intersectional insights into the dialectical relationship between the social and the spatial just by living their lives. They learn to "read the world" around them and in doing so, develop complex understandings of the sociospatial phenomena that surrounds them. The article concludes with a call to value the intellect of urban youth in research and public policy.

This study examines how three teachers working at a South Central high school teach critically about race and place. While building on the "spatial turn" in social science, the article draws on Critical Race Spatial Analysis to advance literature at the intersection of race, place, and pedagogy. Additionally, the article utilizes cognitive mapping to understand the teachers' senses of place and then, through a combination of interviews, observations, and document analysis, examines how they integrate racial-spatial ideas into their teaching. Positing a "critical pedagogy of race and place," the study concludes with implications for future research and teacher education.

Although we often look to schools to solve complex social problems, many educators are not ready to address the structural racism behind many contemporary conflicts. Pedro Noguera and Julio Angel Alicia present a brief history of the socioeconomic forces that drove school closures and gentrification in Chicago, the remaking of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and generations of disadvantage in Los Angeles. By becoming aware of the structural barriers to change, educators will be better equipped to lead discussions with students about the need for justice in our society.