Economically discriminatory zoning policies--which say that people are not welcome in a community unless they can afford a single-family home, sometimes on a large plot of land--run counter to American ideals and yet are pervasive in America. In most U.S. cities, zoning laws prohibit the construction of duplexes, triplexes, quads, and larger…

It is difficult to overstate the importance of segregation for race- and ethnicity-based school funding disparities in the United States. In many respects, unequal educational opportunity depends existentially on segregation. Racial and ethnic disparities in wealth accumulation are perpetuated over generations, ensuring persistent segregation even…

In this article, I discuss the promise of geospatial techniques for education policy research and how increased attention to the historical context of spatial data can enhance that work. While scholarship utilizing geographic information systems has added considerable breadth to our understanding of education policy, recent geospatial studies in…

Inclusionary zoning (IZ) has become an increasingly popular tool for providing affordable housing in an economically integrative manner. IZ policies typically require developers to set aside a proportion of units in market-rate residential developments to be made affordable for lower-income households in exchange for development rights or zoning…

Social scientists offer competing theories on what explains the policymaking process. These typically include economic rationalism, political competition or power struggles, and policy imitation of the kind that diffuses across spatially proximate neighbors. In this paper, we examine the factors that have influenced a recent local policy trend in…

This manual was written to help guide education stakeholders--including parents, students, school board members, community activists, administrators, policymakers and attorneys--in their efforts to promote racial diversity and avoid racial isolation in suburban school systems. Critical information on the current legal, political and policy issues…

We study how the employment effects of enterprise zones vary with their location, implementation, and administration, based on evidence from California. We use new establishment-level data and geographic mapping methods, coupled with a survey of enterprise zone administrators. Overall, the evidence indicates that enterprise zones do not increase…

This report evaluates the impact of two types of initiatives for involving real estate developers in building or supporting new child care facilities. These initiatives are: (1) linkage, a legislative mandate that requires developers to construct a child care space or contribute to a child care fund; and (2) bonuses, or zoning incentives that…

The eztent of local authority, approaches to growth management, exclusionary effects, and the economic impacts of real estate development are controversial aspects of growth control. (Author/JP)

Prompted by a continued environmental awareness, Claremont, California established an Environmental Resource Task Force to determine methods of operating an economically and environmentally sound city. This group of lay persons and professionals concluded that environmental quality is economically possible, and made recommendations on planning,…

Although some comparisons among three diverse cities were made, the three cities were selected precisely because they represented diverse clusters of urban problems. San Jose, California, was the scene of very rapid growth for more than a decade. St. Louis, Missouri, on the other hand, contained the prototypical problems of a declining central…

This report contains information relevant to policies for child day care regulation in California. An introductory section of the report briefly provides background information on the development and goals of the California Day Care Licensing Task Force, summarizes policy recommendations, and defines the terms used in the report. Separate…

This report focuses on the increasingly widespread concern over the ability of local government to exert sufficient leverage on population, economic, and spatial growth to make a difference in what happens and to do so in a way so as to effect agreed-upon public policies. Concern over the ability of local governments to manage urban growth and…