Sun Kyoung Lee (University of Michigan), “When Cities Grow: Urban Planning and Segregation in the Prewar U.S.” (Economic History Workshop)

Monday, May 6, Sun Kyoung Lee, University of Michigan will present “When Cities Grow: Urban Planning and Segregation in the Prewar US.” This is a work in progress and no paper is available.

 

Sign up for a meeting slot here. The 12:00-1:00pm lunch slot is open to students interested in economic history. If you are interested, please sign up for the 12:00 slot or reach out to Noel Sardalla or Burke Evans if you would like to attend.

 

Abstract: I examine the influence of the United States’ first comprehensive land-use regulations (“zoning”) and the growth of transportation infrastructure on segregation and intra-city migration in New York City from 1870 to 1940. Combining a new panel dataset derived from historical US federal population censuses with newly digitized real-estate sales transaction records, I find that between-neighborhood socioeconomic segregation increased dramatically after the building of transit infrastructure, that zoning was largely an endogenous response to the socioeconomic segregation facilitated by transit infrastructure and that the combination of zoning and building new subways in a rapidly expanding city produced a pattern where inner-city neighborhoods zoned for factories and multi-family dwellings ‘flipped’ to African American majorities.

 

This is a hybrid event. The presentation will take place both at 87 Trumbull St., Room B120 and via Zoom from 4:00-5:30pm EST. 

 

Zoom information  - 

Meeting ID: 961 0353 5198

Password: echist24

 

Remote participants will be muted during the event. 

 

If you would like to meet one-on-one with the speaker on Monday, please sign up for a time slot at this Doodle link - https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/e9LLE9Pd

 

Select multiple slots to indicate your availability. Based on your choices, I will notify you of your final slot assignment by the close of Friday, April 19. I will send the speaker their schedule at that time and any updates over the weekend on Monday morning. Meetings will take place at 27 Hillhouse Ave, 29A or elsewhere by mutual arrangement.

 

The 6:00pm slot is reserved for dinner with the speaker, faculty, and invited guests. If you are not faculty and would like to attend, please reach out to Prof. Espin-Sanchez.