Race/Segregation

Whiteness as Property

Published: 2006 | Cheryl I. Harris | UCLA School of Law Research Paper Abstract Issues regarding race and racial identity as well as questions pertaining to property rights and ownership have been prominent in much public discourse in the United…

An Economic History of Zoning and a Cure for Its Exclusionary Effects

Published: 2001 | William A. Fischel | Urban Studies Abstract I outline the twentieth-century history of American zoning to explain how homeowners came to dominate its content and administration in most jurisdictions. Zoning’s original purpose was to protect homeowners in…

The Racial Origins of Zoning in American Cities

Published: 1997 | Christopher Silver Abstract This book chapter points out zoning’s early social function as a legal mechanism for separating immigrant and African American populations, serving to preserve property values or enforce racial segregation. It shows that the narrative…