Presenter: Professor Stephen Sheppard, Williams College, USA
Abstract
How can public policies address the tension between demands for private space, public open space, and the desire for cities that require the least amount of energy use for travel between home and workspace? What are the primary factors that determine the levels of urban land use? Can public policies be effective in governing these forces to alter the structure of our cities? How do social changes and forces such as growing economic opportunity for women, unauthorised or informal housing, or civil conflict and terrorism affect the structure and size of our cities?
This talk will survey some recent evidence on these questions based on comparative analysis of cities around the world, and offer some pragmatic guides for the formation of effective public policy towards urban expansion and land use.
Biography
Stephen Sheppard has been a professor of economics at Williams College since 2000. He is the Robert F. Wright Class of 1952 Professor of Economics, Director of the Center for Creative Community Development, and Chair of the Department of Economics. He is a 2006 Fellow of the Homer Hoyt Advanced Studies Institute and Weimer School of Advanced Studies in Real Estate and Land Economics. His research deals with urban economics, housing markets and the value of neighbourhood amenities. He has examined the community and neighbourhood impacts of land use regulation, rent controls, environmental quality, school quality, economic and social deprivation of residents and the presence of arts and cultural organisations. Stephen received his PhD in 1984 from Washington University in St.Louis.
Date: Thursday 18 June
Time: 12:30-2:00 pm
Location: Spectrum Presentation Theatre, BP House, 20 Customhouse Quay, Wellington
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