Upzoning and Gentrification in New York City

Reforming zoning to increase housing development capacity, or upzoning, is an increasingly common strategy for improving affordability. There is strong evidence that a larger housing supply is associated with greater affordability, but we know less about the effects of upzoning itself. Minjee Kim, Assistant Professor in the Urban Planning department, will discuss her new research on upzonings in New York City and long-term changes to neighborhood demographic, socioeconomic, and housing characteristics. She will also share where gentrification appeared strongest, different mechanisms of gentrification, and what her findings may say about designing more effective upzoning policies.

Minjee Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Urban Planning department at UCLA. Her research is situated at the intersection of real estate development and urban planning. She writes about land use regulation and zoning, large-scale real estate developments, exactions, and urban public finance. Her works have appeared in high-impact academic journals such as the Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Journal of Planning Literature, and Urban Studies. She has been recognized both nationally and internationally as an emerging expert in U.S. land use regulation and zoning and has been working closely with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to promote land-based public financing.