T. 威廉•莱斯特
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椅子 & 教授
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目前的研究活动
While my research in urban planning and 政策 is broad, I am currently asking the question of "how can urban 政策 help promote equitable economic 发展 and human flourishing in distressed neighborhoods, given the history of failed urban improvement 努力(e.g. 城市更新)?" I see this question as embracing a difficult tension 在城市规划的历史上. On the 一个 hand there are significant social and economic problems that are spatially concentrated. On the other hand, many 20th century Federal urban policies have led to uneven outcomes by race, class, and gender and are now deemed gross "government failures." My current projects include a theoretical and empirical re-assessment of the term “inner-city” as a worthwhile category for 社会分析和政策制定. I’m also continuing quantitative work that evaluates the effectiveness of urban economic 发展 tools such as Tax Increment Financing (TIF)及机会地带(OZs). My research also focuses on the impact that local living wage and minimum wage policies have not only on local employment and economic 发展, but also how they may reshape employment practices in low-wage industries 喜欢的餐馆. Lastly, I am currently researching and writing a book entitled “Dialectics 失败的? Urban Renewal and Neighborhood Change on Chicago’s South Side.”
Research 连接s to Current 事件
My work informs current events in two major areas. 首先，我目前的研究 changing geography of distressed neighborhoods across metropolitan areas, as well as my book project on the history of Urban Renewal policies and neighborhood change, have the potential to directly inform debates about what kinds of equitable policies might redress some of the inequalities highlighted by the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the country after the murder of George Floyd. 这些事件变得更加尖锐 the focus on how public policies such as redlining and urban renewal have actively worsened the economic conditions of urban neighborhoods, and limited the wealth building capacity of African Americans in particular. I hope that my work will help reshape debates away from "failed urban policies" towards "opportunity-enhancing metropolitan 政策." Second, my 政策 evaulation research on issues such as the minimum wage and economic 发展 tools such as business incentives and place-based initiatives informs ongoing public debates about the effectiveness of government tools in addressing growing income 不平等 in the United States, and in large urban areas in particiular.
个人与研究的关系
A good deal of my research interests are driven by two experiences I had when I was 一个年轻的成年人. First, my experience growing up in a racially integrated middle class urban neighborhood on Chicago's South Side that was surrounded by highly segregated 低收入地区. 这 illustrated to me how starkly our cities are divided by invisible 障碍. I later learned how urban planning policies contributed to this spatial 不平等. Understanding how public policies impact the process of neighborhood change/stability as well as the geography of economic opportunity still drives my research agenda. The second experience was in my early 20s, when I had the opportunity to work for 洛杉矶县劳联-产联. I was hired to conduct research but was quickly pulled into organizing campaigns, political activism, and direct advocacy for workers. 这 experience ultimately pushed me to pursue my doctoral work on the living wage movement and still drives my interest in how labor market policies can impact workers, families, 和社区. I have been afforded exceptional educational opportunities throughout my life and I first have to recognize what a priviliage this has been for my carreer 发展. It is my goal to build on this early opportunity and commit to teaching all of my students to the level I was exposed to at elite institutions. 我的整体 challenge in my research and service activities is learning to say no. 我最终 seek to please every一个 and, as a younger scholar, this led me to willingly collaborate on projects that took me away from my core interests. 在服役中，我承担了任何角色 那是问我的. Ultimately this can de-rail both professional as well as family 个人目标.
社交媒体
