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Klarman Fellow presents findings on housing cost history

Why have New York, Boston, San Francisco and other supposedly progressive cities become so expensive that they are unaffordable for many Americans? 

Jacob Anbinder examines documents held by Cornell University Library from the archives of New York's Regional Plan Association, one of the most influential urban planning organizations of the twentieth century.

Jake Anbinder, Klarman Fellow in history in the College of Arts and Sciences, is uncovering political as well as economic reasons for the current housing crisis, which he describes in his award-winning dissertation, “Cities of Amber: Antigrowth Politics and the Making of Modern Liberalism,” and the book he’s writing based on it.

This fall, Anbinder, a historian with an interest in cities and strong ties to public policy, is presenting two conference papers elaborating on his book project.

On Oct. 26, he presented “Salvation by Bricks: Making Preservation Progressive in Postwar New York,” at the Society of American City and Regional Planning History in San Diego. On Nov. 1, he will talk about “The Biggest Slum on the Face of the Earth,” on how the postwar revolt against urban development made America modern, at the Hagley Library's Conference on Real Estate Development and the Built Environment in Wilmington, DE, which he describes as a “whirlwind tour of the entire book.”

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website. 

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