Bollens is professor of urban planning and holder of the Warmington Endowed Chair of Peace and International Cooperation at University of California, Irvine. The author conducted research in Belfast, Northern Ireland (March-June 2016) and Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine (October 2015-February 2016). During that time, he carried out 121 interviews with political leaders, urban professionals, community and nongovernmental organization representatives and academic experts. A book on this research is forthcoming, tentatively titled Nationalistic Conflicts in the City: Jerusalem and Belfast 1994-2016.