A

AIA CES Credits
AV Office
Abstract Publication
Academic Affairs
Academic Calendar, Columbia University
Academic Calendar, GSAPP
Admissions Office
Advanced Standing Waiver Form
Alumni Board
Alumni Office
Anti-Racism Curriculum Development Award
Architecture Studio Lottery
Assistantships
Avery Library
Avery Review
Avery Shorts

S

STEM Designation
Satisfactory Academic Progress
Scholarships
Skill Trails
Student Affairs
Student Awards
Student Conduct
Student Council (All Programs)
Student Financial Services
Student Health Services at Columbia
Student Organization Handbook
Student Organizations
Student Services Center
Student Services Online (SSOL)
Student Work Online
Studio Culture Policy
Studio Procedures
Summer Workshops
Support GSAPP
Close
This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice Group 6

Justin Steil

Tue, Jan 28    1:05pm

Reflections on Durable Discrimination in Housing Discrimination

The practice of land use planning and zoning has been intertwined with processes of spatial inclusion and exclusion since its inception. This talk explores threads connecting changing planning practices to changing dimensions of spatial exclusion and inclusion over the past century. First, it reviews recent research on the origins of zoning in municipal segregation ordinances and racial zoning at the beginning of the 20th Century and the effects of those ordinances. Second, it presents recent research on the development and diffusion of restrictive covenants through the 19th and 20th Centuries with a focus on Massachusetts and the social construction of race through limitations on access to property ownership. Finally, it presents reflections on fair housing challenges to exclusionary zoning, source of income discrimination, and other contemporary discriminatory zoning practices.

Justin Steil is an Associate Professor of Law and Urban Planning. As a paramedic, a lawyer, and an urban planner, his research focuses on spatial dimensions of inequality in the domains of health equity, environmental justice, housing and land use policies, among others. Justin is the co-editor of three books: Furthering Fair Housing: Prospects for Racial Justice in America’s Neighborhoods (2021); The Dream Revisited: Contemporary Debates about Housing, Segregation, and Opportunity (2019); and Searching for the Just City: Debates in Urban Theory and Practice (2009).

Recent research on environmental justice focuses on the effects of climate-change-related disasters on renters, including on rents, evictions, and affordable housing production. Work on housing policy includes scholarship on housing discrimination and its effects, fair housing law and policy, gentrification and displacement pressure, and the dynamics of eviction. Scholarship on land use disentangles how the structure of local governance and the regulation of land use interact with housing policies to shape the spatial structure of our social world in ways that produce economic and racial inequality. Recent research on health equity focuses on the effects of neighborhoods on health and on the role of emergency medical services in advancing health equity. Justin received a B.A. from Harvard College in African-American Studies, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics in City Design and Social Science, a J.D. from Columbia Law School, and a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from Columbia’s GSAPP.

Light refreshments will be served. This event is open to Columbia University affiliates with a valid university ID. Any questions on the events can be directed Diana Guo, dg3372@columbia.edu; Vinita Govindarajan, vg2588@columbia.edu; Mauricio Enrique Rada Orellana, mer2245@columbia.edu

The Lecture in Planning Series (LiPS) is organized by the Urban Planning Office second year PhD students in Urban Planning: Vinita Govindarajan, Diana Guo, and Mauricio Rada Orellana.

Spring 2025 poster lips
Steil 2