The Undemocratic Making of Indianapolis

How Unigov, a 1970s-era legislative project, helped create modern-day Indy and its suburbs.

In any conversation about Unigov, a good place to start is with the name—that technical, distinctly mid-century-sounding title for the 1970 consolidation of city and county governments in Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana. As you might have guessed, it’s a combination of “unified” and “government.” Administrative mergers, if you ask my opinion, are far from sexy. But in the case of Unigov, what initially seems like a droll story about agency streamlining is in fact another chapter in America’s history of expansion—social equity be damned.

You can read the full story here.