Christopher Tyler Burks

urban policy scholar
studying cities, inequality, and governance

  • I am a visiting assistant professor of political science at Samford University teaching courses in American politics, law, policy, planning, and administration. Learn about my teaching.

  • I was appointed to the Birmingham Planning Commission by the City Council in 2023. I serve as a commissioner implementing the city’s comprehensive plan by coordinating public and private development in the City of Birmingham, including its transportation network, community facilities, and the arrangement of land uses. I am a member of the commission’s Zoning Advisory Committee.

  • I was elected president of the Alabama Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) in 2023. Our mission is to advance excellence in public service. Our members include the professionals in government, business, and nonprofit organizations who are engaged in the delivery of public goods and services. We support the experts who are doing the work that the public relies on, and we educate the students who will carry on that work in the future. Our chapter offers opportunities to advance your career and expand your network. Engage with us at @ASPAAlabama and join today!

  • Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform advocates for efficient and equitable government. Help us fund research briefs examining how the Alabama Constitution impacts the well being of our citizens. This research will be conducted by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA).

  • I conduct research with Dr. Derek Hyra in the Metropolitan Policy Center. I built a panel dataset of U.S. city council districts (GIS shapefiles) and their representatives in the largest 40 Black population cities for the years 2000-2010. I built this dataset to examine the effects of gentrification on racial representation in local government. I presented my preliminary findings to the Gentrification and Political Representation Conference at University of Houston Political Science Department on May 6, 2022. I am drafting the article for submission to Urban Affairs Review.

  • Urban Analysis is a management consulting firm for changemaking through policy, planning, and politics. I founded Urban Analysis to support our public and civic leaders in their charge to build smart, sustainable, and inclusive cities and metropolitan regions.

I am a visiting assistant professor of political science at Samford University where I teach courses in American politics, law, policy, planning, and administration. I live in Birmingham, Alabama where I have interviewed 162 leaders in government, business, and nonprofit organizations for my book on race and regional governance in Greater Birmingham and metropolitan America.

I am grateful to serve on the Birmingham Planning Commission where we implement the comprehensive plan by coordinating public and private development across the city’s transportation network, community facilities, and land uses. I am a member of the commission’s Zoning Advisory Committee.

I am a Charles Levine Doctoral Research Fellow completing a PhD in public administration and policy at American University in Washington, D.C. I have a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

I founded Urban Analysis, a consulting firm for changemaking through policy, planning, and politics. I’m proud of my transportation policy work: I assisted Chief Planner Tim Gambrel in the development of Birmingham’s Complete Streets Ordinance, and I worked for City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn as a policy analyst on many projects, such as writing the request for proposals (RFP) for the public ridesharing service Birmingham On-Demand.

Christopher Tyler Burks

Community engaged researcher in public and urban affairs.

Research

Race and Collaborative Governance in Metropolitan Birmingham

My dissertation is a book project that explains how to build metropolitan capacity for problem solving in the United States by advancing a new perspective on regional partnerships that integrates theories of collaborative governance and urban regimes within the context of racism in America.

Dissertation Committee

American University, School of Public Affairs,
Department of Public Administration and Policy

Derek S. Hyra, PhD, Chair
Professor and Founding Director, Metropolitan Policy Center

Kenneth J. Meier, PhD
Distinguished Scholar in Residence


Daniel J. Fiorino, PhD
Distinguished Executive in Residence and Director,
Center for Environmental Policy

Topographical map of Jefferson County and Metropolitan Birmingham

Topographical map of metropolitan Birmingham, Alabama. A mountain stands between the City of Birmingham and its most affluent suburbs, separating the lives of many White and Black people in the region.

This dot density map illustrates the racial segregation of metropolitan Birmingham by city boundaries with the most recent data from the American Community Survey (ACS). Each dot represents about 22 people. Orange dots represent the Black population in Birmingham and the other settlements of Jones Valley. Blue dots represent the White population that lives “over the mountain,” along I-65 and highways 31 and 280 going south into Shelby County. Throughout the 20th century, and especially during the civil rights movement and court-ordered desegregation, Birmingham’s White population created new suburbs, moving over the mountain and around the central city, thereby fragmenting the region by race and class.

Teaching at
Samford University

I am a visiting assistant professor of political science at Samford University teaching courses in American politics, law, policy, planning, and administration:

  • American Public Policy (POLS 443)

  • Introduction to American Politics (POLS 205)

  • Current Controversies in Public Policy & the Law (POLS 454)

  • Public Administration (POLS 316)

  • Alabama Constitution & Politics (POLS 398)

  • Writing & Research about Urban Planning (UCS 102)

Founders’ Fellow (2019), American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). Presenting my findings from a national difference-in-differences analysis of the per-pupil revenue impact of school district secession on the district left behind. After a secession, the school district left behind saw an average decline in per-pupil revenue by over $1,000.

PhD Student Committee
for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

I am motivated by public service and committed to servant leadership, so I was thrilled to join four enterprising PhD students in 2019 to organize the PhD Student Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI Committee) with the help of our Faculty Adviser Ken Meier. I was honored to be elected as our third chair during the 2021-22 term.

I am proud of our team in the DEI Committee. We launched our Pathways to PhD program in 2022. Our mission is to support prospective students from underrepresented backgrounds through mentorship in the PhD application process. Applicants are paired with mentors, a current PhD student or faculty member, to receive feedback on their CV and personal statement.

Illuminating Shuttlesworth (2022) mural in the Birmingham Museum of Art by Rico Gatson. Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth had a fire you can’t put out. His passion for justice drove him to lead the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and to co-found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His nonviolent direct action challenged the segregation of Jim Crow. The success of the national civil rights movement pivoted on the Birmingham campaign, providing the impetus for the Second Reconstruction in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As Shuttlesworth remarked, “But for Birmingham, we would not be here today.”

Respect Diversity

The DEI Committee respects diversity. We are grateful to share experiences across differences. Diversity is inclusive of multiple identities, affiliations, and experiences, such as but not limited to: race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, class (for example, education, profession, income, and wealth), language and dialect, nationality and region, age, ability, politics, and religion.

Value Equity

The committee’s respect for diversity commits us to act on social equity. Equity is the path to meaningful equality. Its first steps begin with accessibility and the supports to take advantage of opportunity. Past and present discrimination needs to be repaired through the redistribution of resources and through social healing to achieve justice as fairness.

Practice Inclusion

The committee’s respect for diversity and commitment to social equity leads us, not merely to tolerate differences, but to value and welcome the experiences and perspectives that each person brings to the table. We aim to create a place and culture of belonging and sharing. This inclusive culture accelerates our learning and fosters our friendship.

Black Lives Matter (2020) street art installation in Birmingham, AL on 1st Avenue South by Railroad Park. Inspired by the BLM movement in Washington, D.C., Cara McClure with BLM Birmingham and local mural artist Shawn Fitzpatrick worked with Mayor Randall Woodfin to bring together the community art project.

Media Commentary

My interview with local journalist Heather Gann was featured on the cover of The Birmingham Lede on April 30, 2023 and republished on AL.com.