Photo: Christina Schoppert '04
Graduate student colloquia 2009-2010
Please join us for Coffee, Croissants and Conversation during the Urban Studies Graduate Student Colloquium Series! This year the series will be held all year, and is a way for graduate students who are or have been a part of the Urban Studies Certificate program to come together to share their work. Most colloquia run from 9:15-11:00AM unless otherwise noted. Breakfast will be served.
fall 2009 Dates
wednesday, november 18, 10:30-noon, meyerson g-12
- Paul Thompson, a graduate student in City and Regional Planning, will be presenting his work which interrogates the notion of sustainability, entitled “So Much Sustainability, So Little to Do” (see below for abstract). Professor Landis, Crossways Professor of City and Regional Planning, will serve as Paul's discussant.
previous events:
TUEsday, OCtober 27, 10:30-n00n, meyerson g-12
- Michael Gaughan, a graduate student in City and Regional Planning, will be presenting his work on affordable housing, entitled “20 percent of Nothing is Nothing: An Economic Analysis of Proposed Changes to the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance of Boulder, CO” (see below for abstract). Professor Landis, Crossways Professor of City and Regional Planning, will serve as discussant.
A light brunch will be served.
Abstract:
Inclusionary zoning ordinances (IZO) are an increasingly popular tool to ensure affordable housing within high priced real estate markets. For the past nine years, the City of Boulder, Colorado has required that 20 percent of all units in new residential developments be made permanently affordable to low-income households. This requirement was successful in creating a source of funding for low-income housing, but was aided greatly by a real estate boom period that enabled new development to occur despite higher costs. More recently, the City Council is re-examining the program for numerous reasons. At stake for planners, council, and developers is the extent to which potential modifications will cause new development to become too expensive and/or further exacerbate the affordability problem.
The purpose of this colloquium is to review my previous work with Economic & Planning Systems, an urban economics consulting firm, which was hired by the City of Boulder to investigate the consequences to development feasibility if the IZO is modified. The analysis is based on proforma analysis and is oriented to the geographically differentiated real estate conditions within Boulder’s various sub-markets. The presentation will briefly introduce the IZO concept, discuss the relationship between regulation and development costs, and review the findings of the analysis.