Founded in 2012, the Urban Law Center at Fordham Law School seeks to investigate and improve the role of the law and legal systems in contemporary urbanism. It promotes an interdisciplinary understanding of the legal, governance, and regulatory aspects of urban environments by advancing collaborative research and scholarship, organizing local and global convenings, and supporting knowledge sharing, career pathways and pedagogy in the world of urban law. In particular, the Center’s efforts focus on forces that shape urban inequality and urban innovation, targeting the most pressing issues facing our nation’s cities and their metropolitan regions.
URBAN LAW BULLETIN
From the Research Assistants of the Urban Law Center
Daniel Katter
Michael Pickett
Gabriella Romanos Abi Habib
Christopher Ziemba
What We’re Interested In Right Now!
California Housing Revolution?
A pro-market proposal from a California lawmaker offers a solution for solving the state’s chronic housing shortage and high prices. SB 827, being introduced by State Senator Scott Wiener, would override many local zoning restrictions for buildings in the immediate vicinity of most rail and mass transit hubs, thereby forcing localities to allow more apartments and condominiums to be built a short walk from train stations and bus stops. Read about it here.
A City’s voice in the gun regulation debate, who has the power?
Just days after the school shooting in Parkland Florida, hear what the Federal 2nd Circuit court of appeals held regarding a city’s ability to regulate firearms and their transportation. Read the decision here.
Reclaiming Fiduciary Law for the City - Stanford Law Review
Cites routinely make financial deals that are as complex and expensive as anything in the private sector. However, because of their public status, cities face none of the scrutiny faced by corporations when working on transactions of the same scale. These authors make the case for applying a standard of fiduciary duty to city governments, and argue that it would have a negligible effect on policy making discretion and transaction costs. Read this article here.
Privacy In Public Space: Consequences of “Living Laboratories”
Smart tech has gone quotidian: teaching public and private actors everything from our patterns of movement to the specifics of who we spend time with, it even provides a medium for encouraging behavior through a controlled change of street lighting or emission of a calming scent. We engage with smart tech daily, without even knowing it. In learning our habits, and combatting the urban trifecta of traffic, crime, and pollution, how does data-driven management challenge privacy laws? Does it at all? Learn more here.