Land Use Prof Blog

Buchanan v. Warley Centennial Symposium on Race & Zoning

On November 5, 1917, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisville’s race-based zoning ordinance in a landmark case, Buchanan v. Warley. The centennial of this famous case will be marked on Friday, November 10, 2017, at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law with a national symposium on Racial Justice in Zoning: 100 Years after Buchanan. The symposium will explore current racial injustices in land use, housing, and environmental conditions, as well as the history of race and zoning in the U.S. and Louisville. It will feature presentations on eight nationally renowned scholars, as well as a presentation on redlining in Louisville.

 

The symposium begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, November 10, and will be held in Room 275 of Wyatt Hall, which is the Brandeis School of Law on the University of Louisville’s Belknap campus, 2301 S. Third Street. The symposium is free and open to the public, and includes a free light continental breakfast at approximately 8:30 a.m., and a free lunch at approximately 1:00 p.m., both on a first-come, first-serve basis until food runs out. Please do not confirm your attendance; just come. If you have questions, please contact Tracie Cole at [email protected] or 502-852-1230. Individuals requiring accommodations should also contact her as soon as possible.

 

All attendees will be responsible for finding and paying for their own parking. Visitor parking passes are available for purchase through the U of L Parking website.  On this page, you are able to pay for and print your visitor permit that you will place on the dash board of your car while you are parked on campus.  You are also able to view maps and directions to campus.  To obtain your visitor pass, click on “Printable Visitor Permits”, under “Permits” click on “Get permits” and under “Customer Authentication, click on “create a guest account”.  From here, you will create an account, and be able to select the $5 per day printable visitor permit.  You are able to park in the Green Lot on 3^rd Street across from the Reynolds Lofts. The UofL Parking website also contains information about other visitor parking options, such as the lot at 4^th and Cardinal or the Floyd Street Garage, which charge based on the length of time you park. Also, the Speed Museum (not the University) operates a parking garage next to the Speed Museum on Third Street, which charges by the hour.

 

The symposium is sponsored by the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, with support from the Caudill-Little Speakers Fund, and co-sponsored by the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research at the University of Louisville.

 

The details of the symposium schedule and speaker information are provided below:

 

Buchanan v. Warley Symposium Agenda

Racial Justice in Zoning: 100 Years after Buchanan

Friday, November 10, 2017

 

8:30 a.m.: Light continental breakfast

8:40 a.m.: Dean's Welcome: Lars Smith, Interim Dean

8:50 a.m.: Organizers' Welcome: Tony Arnold, Symposium Chair

 

Session I: The History of Race, Zoning, and Buchanan Case

9:00 a.m.: Cate Fosl, The Buchanan Case and the Long Movement for Civil Rights in Louisville

9:20 a.m.: Laura Rothstein, What Would Louis Do?  The “Brandeis Brief” on Zoning and Its Present Impact on Racial Segregation

9:40 a.m.: Michael Wolf, Caudill-Little Distinguished Presenter, There’s Something Happening Here: Affordable Housing as a Nonstarter in the U.S. Supreme Court

10:20 a.m.: Q&A for Session I

10:30 a.m.: Break

 

Session II: Contemporary Perspectives on the Persistence of Racial Inequality in Land Use

10:40 a.m.: Cedric Merlin Powell, Race Displaced: Buchanan v. Warley and the Neutral Rhetoric of Due Process

11:00 a.m.: Michael Lens, Caudill-Little Distinguished Presenter, Why Segregation Matters: The Inequality of Opportunity

11:40 a.m.: Audrey McFarlane, Caudill-Little Distinguished Presenter, The Properties of Integration: Managing Discrimination Through Mixed Income Housing

12:20 p.m.: Tony Arnold, From Zoning Injustice to Environmental Injustice to Resilience Injustice

12:40 p.m.: Q&A for Session II

12:50 p.m.: Break

 

Session III: Luncheon Keynote

1:00 p.m.: Lunch

1:10 p.m.: Keynote by Sheryll Cashin, Caudill-Little Distinguished, Integration as a Means of Restoring Democracy and Opportunity

1:50 p.m.: Q&A for Keynote

 

Session IV: Bringing It Home

2:00 p.m.: Jeana Dunlap, Redlining Louisville: The History of Race, Class and Real Estate

2:15 p.m.: Final Remarks by Organizers and Conclusion

2:30 p.m.: Symposium Ends; Book-Signing by Sheryll Cashin

 

Speakers:

Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold, J.D. is the Boehl Chair in Property and Land Use at the University of Louisville, where he teaches in the Brandeis School of Law and the Department of Urban and Public Affairs and directs the interdisciplinary Center for Land Use and Environmental Responsibility.

Sheryll Cashin*, M.A., J.D., is Professor of Law at Georgetown University, and an active member of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council.

Jeana E. Dunlap, M.P.A., M.S., is the Director of Redevelopment Strategies, Louisville Forward.

Catherine Fosl, Ph.D., is Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Louisville, where she also teaches in the History Department and directs the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research.

Michael Lens*, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, where he is the Associate Faculty Director of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies.

Audrey McFarlane*, J.D., is the Dean Julius Isaacson Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore.

Cedric Merlin Powell, J.D., is Professor of Law at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, where he is the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Laura Rothstein, J.D., is a Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Law at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law.

Michael Allan Wolf*, J.D., Ph.D., is the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law and Professor of Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

* denotes Caudill-Little Distinguished Presenter

Memphis Law Review Symposium--Submission Deadline Extended

The University of Memphis Law Review has extended its deadline for symposium abstract submissions until October 19th.  The revised call for papers below also clarifies that the full drafts will be due at the beginning of January.  

SYMPOSIUM TITLE:

The University of Memphis Law Review Annual Symposium

 

SYMPOSIUM DATE:

March 18, 2016 in Memphis, TN

 

ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM

It is a pleasure to invite you to The University of Memphis Law Review’s 2016 Annual Symposium. The theme this year is “Urban Revitalization: The Legal Implications in Restoring a City.”  As the name suggests, we will focus our attention on the legal issues of cities that face large turnover, abandonment, and blighted properties. The University of Memphis Law Review, organizer of the event, will host Symposium sessions at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at 1 North Front Street Memphis, TN 38103 on March 18, 2016.

 

The University of Memphis Law Review Symposium is held every spring on a topic of current interest to the student population, the legal community, and the city. The Symposium is a one-day CLE event. An issue of The Memphis Law Review will be published in conjunction.

 

This law symposium is unique in that it will be followed by a Community Summit at the Law School on March 19, 2016. The Summit is specifically designed for local, regional and state officials, civil leaders and others who put law and public policy into practice.

 

Topics of interest

With this symposiums focus on the legal implications of revitalizing distressed communities, neighborhoods, and properties, we are particularly interested in the intersection of law and policy as local government, together with community, institutional and philanthropic partners, deploy a wide variety of policies, strategies, and legal remedies to address blighted properties.  Our topic specifically covers the areas of municipal, real property, and environmental law.  Under this broad umbrella, we are particularly interested in articles addressing:

• Code enforcement laws and policies to defeat residential blight

• Mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy and property abandonment

• Use of data in the fight against blighted property

• Criminal nuisance theory and procedure

• Health law and Healthy Homes theory and procedure

• Disparate impact in revitalizing neighborhoods

• Property rights in the light of community beautification projects

• Land banking functions, structures and legislative requirements

• Tax delinquency and issues of takings or eminent domain

• Disparate racial impact in neighborhood stabilization policies and practices

• HUD’s new affirmative fair housing policy in blighted urban neighborhoods

• Administrative versus judicial remedies in property revitalization

• Special purpose housing and environmental courts

• Public policies and programs for better health in homes and neighborhoods

 

Guide for authors

The deadline to submit abstracts is October 19, 2015. To submit your abstract, please click on the following link: http://law.bepress.com/expresso/

 

Click “Submit Now” and search for The University of Memphis Law Review. Follow the remaining prompts to upload and submit your article.  Please identify your submission as a symposium proposal so it will be sent to the correct editor.

 

You may also submit directly to The University of Memphis Law Review through email at [email protected]

Important Dates

Deadline for submission of abstracts: October 19, 2015

Notification of acceptance: November 1, 2015

Article due: January 1, 2016

 

Organizing committee:

For any additional questions about the event or about submitting an article, please email Kelly Masters Peevyhouse at [email protected].

 

I'm looking forward to the symposium in March.  I hope to see some of you there!

Jim K.

Memphis Law Review Symposium--Submission Deadline Extended

The University of Memphis Law Review has extended its deadline for symposium abstract submissions until October 19th.  The revised call for papers below also clarifies that the full drafts will be due at the beginning of January.  

SYMPOSIUM TITLE:

The University of Memphis Law Review Annual Symposium

 

SYMPOSIUM DATE:

March 18, 2016 in Memphis, TN

 

ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM

It is a pleasure to invite you to The University of Memphis Law Review’s 2016 Annual Symposium. The theme this year is “Urban Revitalization: The Legal Implications in Restoring a City.”  As the name suggests, we will focus our attention on the legal issues of cities that face large turnover, abandonment, and blighted properties. The University of Memphis Law Review, organizer of the event, will host Symposium sessions at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at 1 North Front Street Memphis, TN 38103 on March 18, 2016.

 

The University of Memphis Law Review Symposium is held every spring on a topic of current interest to the student population, the legal community, and the city. The Symposium is a one-day CLE event. An issue of The Memphis Law Review will be published in conjunction.

 

This law symposium is unique in that it will be followed by a Community Summit at the Law School on March 19, 2016. The Summit is specifically designed for local, regional and state officials, civil leaders and others who put law and public policy into practice.

 

Topics of interest

With this symposiums focus on the legal implications of revitalizing distressed communities, neighborhoods, and properties, we are particularly interested in the intersection of law and policy as local government, together with community, institutional and philanthropic partners, deploy a wide variety of policies, strategies, and legal remedies to address blighted properties.  Our topic specifically covers the areas of municipal, real property, and environmental law.  Under this broad umbrella, we are particularly interested in articles addressing:

• Code enforcement laws and policies to defeat residential blight

• Mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy and property abandonment

• Use of data in the fight against blighted property

• Criminal nuisance theory and procedure

• Health law and Healthy Homes theory and procedure

• Disparate impact in revitalizing neighborhoods

• Property rights in the light of community beautification projects

• Land banking functions, structures and legislative requirements

• Tax delinquency and issues of takings or eminent domain

• Disparate racial impact in neighborhood stabilization policies and practices

• HUD’s new affirmative fair housing policy in blighted urban neighborhoods

• Administrative versus judicial remedies in property revitalization

• Special purpose housing and environmental courts

• Public policies and programs for better health in homes and neighborhoods

 

Guide for authors

The deadline to submit abstracts is October 19, 2015. To submit your abstract, please click on the following link: http://law.bepress.com/expresso/

 

Click “Submit Now” and search for The University of Memphis Law Review. Follow the remaining prompts to upload and submit your article.  Please identify your submission as a symposium proposal so it will be sent to the correct editor.

 

You may also submit directly to The University of Memphis Law Review through email at [email protected]

Important Dates

Deadline for submission of abstracts: October 19, 2015

Notification of acceptance: November 1, 2015

Article due: January 1, 2016

 

Organizing committee:

For any additional questions about the event or about submitting an article, please email Kelly Masters Peevyhouse at [email protected].

 

I'm looking forward to the symposium in March.  I hope to see some of you there!

Jim K.

Call for Papers: ALPS in Belfast, May 2016

Call for Papers for Association for Law, Property & Society 7th Annual Meeting

 

Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

 

May 20–21, 2016

 

The Association for Law, Property & Society (ALPS) is a scholarly organization for those engaged in scholarship on all aspects of property law and society. Its annual meeting brings together scholars from different disciplines to discuss their work and to foster dialogue among those working in property law, policy, and theory. Prior meetings have averaged approximately 150 participants from across the globe. ALPS will hold its 7th meeting at Queen’s University Belfast in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom on May 20-21, 2016. An optional field-trip and opening reception are planned for the afternoon of May 19.

 

Registration and Submission Instructions

 

Submissions on any subject related to property law are welcome. ALPS has a strong commitment to international and interdisciplinary diversity, and paper topics reflecting that commitment are encouraged. ALPS accepts both individual paper submissions and proposals for fully formed panels (usually 3 to 5 presenters). Submissions may be for full paper drafts or early works-in-progress. Submissions should include an abstract of no more than 250 words that indicates the name of the submitting scholar, the scholar’s institution, and an email contact for the scholar. If submitting a fully formed panel, please insure that an abstract for each paper is included in the submission and that each abstract clearly identifies the fully formed panel the paper is a part of.

 

Registration and paper/panel submission information is available at

http://www.law.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofLaw/sites/ALPS-2016-belfast/

The deadline for submitting papers and panels is February 1, 2016, but registration for the conference will continue to be available after that date.

 

A discounted early registration rate of £110 (GBP) is available until February 1, 2016. After that date, the registration rate is £150 (GBP). The registration rate for full-time students (JD, PhD, or other program) is £30 (GBP).

 

Notification

ALPS will notify authors and panel proposers of acceptance of their individual submissions or proposed panel on a rolling basis, generally within three weeks after the date of submission.

After the submission deadline of February 1, 2016, ALPS will thematically group accepted papers and panels. Concurrent panels will be held on both days of the conference with each panel session lasting approximately 90 minutes and including both individual presentations and time for questions from the audience.

 

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to [email protected]

Online Professional Development Course in Adaptive Planning & Resilience

Land Use Prof colleagues -- please share the following information about an online self-paced course in adaptive planning and resilience as broadly as possible.  It's especially relevant for professionals who are engaged in planning and would benefit from skills to make their planning processes more adaptive and resilience-oriented.  Students, professors, and other professionals are welcome too.  Thanks for your interest and help!  All best wishes, Tony Arnold

I’m writing to let you know about an online self-paced professional development course in adaptive planning and resilience.  This course is aimed at any professional who engages in planning under conditions of uncertainty, complexity, or unstable conditions, whether in the public sector, private sector, local community, or multi-stakeholder partnerships. 

The course is ideal for professionals in sectors such as urban planning, community development water supply, water quality, disasters/hazards, environmental protection, land management, forestry, natural resources management, ecosystem restoration, climate change, public infrastructure, housing, sustainability, community resilience, energy, and many others.  I hope that you and the employees and/or members of your organization will consider enrolling in this course.

 The 12-hour course is offered by the University of Louisville for a cost of $150 and is taught by Professor Tony Arnold, a national expert in adaptive planning and resilience, and a team of professionals engaged in various aspects of adaptive planning.  The online lectures are asynchronous, and the course is self-paced; this offering will last until November 22.

 More information is provided below and at the registration web page: http://louisville.edu/law/flex-courses/adaptive-planning.  This offering of the course begins October 12 but registration will be accepted through November 15 due to the self-pacing of the course.  We are seeking AICP CM credits for the course in partnership with the Kentucky Chapter of the American Planning Association, but cannot make any representations or promises until our application is reviewed. 

Please share this blog post or information with anyone who might be interested.  Please contact me at [email protected], if you have any questions. 

Adaptive Planning and Resilience

Online and self-paced

Oct. 12 – Nov. 22, 2015

Adaptive Planning and Resilience is a professional development course in which professionals will develop the knowledge and skills to design and implement planning processes that will enable their governance systems, organizations, and/or communities to adapt to changing conditions and sudden shocks or disturbances.

Adaptive planning is more flexible and continuous than conventional planning processes, yet involves a greater amount of goal and strategy development than adaptive management methods. It helps communities, organizations, and governance systems to develop resilience and adaptive capacity: the capacity to resist disturbances, bounce back from disasters, and transform themselves under changing and uncertain conditions. Adaptive planning is needed most when systems or communities are vulnerable to surprise catastrophes, unprecedented conditions, or complex and difficult-to-resolve policy choices.

The course will cover the elements of adaptive planning and resilient systems, the legal issues in adaptive planning, how to design and implement adaptive planning processes, and case studies (including guest speakers) from various communities and organizations that are employing adaptive planning methods.  Enrollees will have the opportunity to design or redesign an adaptive planning process for their own professional situation and get feedback from course instructors.

The six-week course totals about 12 hours broken into 30-minute segments. It is conducted online and is asynchronous. Cost is $150.

 About Professor Tony Arnold

Professor Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold is the Boehl Chair in Property and Land Use at the University of Louisville, where he teaches in both the Brandeis School of Law and the Department of Urban and Public Affairs and directs the interdisciplinary Center for Land Use and Environmental Responsibility. Professor Arnold is an internationally renowned and highly-cited scholar who studies how governance systems and institutions – including planning, law, policy, and resource management – can adapt to changing conditions and disturbances in order to improve social-ecological resilience. He has won numerous teaching awards, including the 2013 Trustee’s Award, the highest award for a faculty member at the University of Louisville.

Professor Arnold has clerked for a federal appellate judge on the 10th Circuit and practiced law in Texas, including serving as a city attorney and representing water districts. He served as Chairman of the Planning Commission of Anaheim, California, and on numerous government task forces and nonprofit boards. He had a land use planning internship with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, did rural poverty work in Kansas, and worked for two members of Congress. Professor Arnold received his Bachelor of Arts, with Highest Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1987 from the University of Kansas. He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence, with Distinction, in 1990 from Stanford University, where he co-founded the Stanford Law & Policy Review and was a Graduate Student Fellow in the Stanford Center for Conflict and Negotiation. He has affiliations with interdisciplinary research centers at six major universities nationwide and is a part of an interdisciplinary collaboration of scholars studying adaptive governance and resilience.

 Professor Arnold will be joined in co-teaching the course by a team of his former students who are

professionals knowledgeable in adaptive planning. They include:

• Brian      O’Neill, an aquatic ecologist and environmental planner in Chicago
• Heather      Kenny, a local-government and land-use lawyer in California and adjunct      professor at Lincoln Law School of Sacramento
• Sherry      Fuller, a business manager at the Irvine Ranch Conservancy in Orange      County, California, and former community redevelopment project manager
• Andrew      Black, who is Associate Dean of Career Planning and Applied Learning at      Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and a former field      representative for two U.S. Senators in New Mexico
• Andrea      Pompei Lacy, AICP, who directs the Center for Hazards Research and Policy      Development at the University of Louisville
• Jennifer-Grace      Ewa, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Inequality and the Provision of Open Space      at the University of Denver
• Alexandra      Chase, a recent graduate of the Brandeis School of Law who has worked on      watershed and urban resilience issues with the Center for Land Use and      Environmental Responsibility and now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Dates

October 12 – November 22, 2015,

Online, asynchronous, and self-paced

Cost

$150

For more information

Visit louisville.edu/law/flex-courses.

 

Two Great Long Island, NY Land Use Planning and Zoning Programs this Week

Are you in the New York metro area? Join planners and attorneys, municipal board members and others this Thursday for the APA's 2015 East End Planning Conference and this Friday for Touro Law's Bagels with the Boards program.

• 2015 East End Planning Conference

Thursday, September 24, 2015, 3 PM – 7:30 PM

Tour of Marine Sciences Center 2pm – 3pm

Stony Brook University

Tuckahoe Road, Southampton, NY 11968

For more information visit here. 

• Bagels with the Boards

Friday, September 25, 2015, Program 9 – 10 AM (breakfast 8:30 – 9 AM)

Telecommunications Law for Planning and Zoning Boards by Christopher B. Fisher, Charles J. Gottlieb and Anthony F. Morando, of Cuddy & Feder LLP

For more information and to register visit http://www.tourolaw.edu/landuseinstitute/ or email [email protected].

New cases, including recent U.S. Supreme Court cases, continue to shift the legal landscape relevant to planning for, permitting and siting telecommunications infrastructure. This one-hour program will provide participants with an update on recent changes in the law, and is especially relevant as municipalities continue to see increased deployment of wireless communications infrastructure to address the explosion in data use and demand for mobile broadband. To harness these advancements and growth in technology, municipalities must fully understand recent developments in Federal law to ensure that their local codes are not only compliant with the most recent Federal law and policy, but properly balance their own administrative burdens with the nature of the infrastructure being deployed. Tools to aid in the deployment of wireless infrastructure includes as-of-right sites, town wide planning, amendment of local laws including zoning regulations, as well as development of ongoing policies at the municipal level including use of municipal rights-of-way and properties. Successful use of these tools, however, requires staying abreast of federal law--which is evolving quickly as federal statutes and regulations are amended and as federal courts issue opinions interpreting these laws.

And save the date for future Land Use & Sustainable Development Law Institute programs:

• Oct. 16, 2015 – Land Use & Zoning for Fair and Accessible Housing including Overview of Regional Trends and Impediments by Chris Jones of the Regional Plan Association; Fair Housing Act Nuts and Bolts by Kevin Dwarka, land use and economic consultant and Senior Fellow at Pace's Land Use Law Center; Fair Housing Is Accessible Housing by Robin Malloy of Syracuse College of Law, Brian Baer of The Elevated Studio, and Marcie Roth of FEMA; Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing by George D. Williams, Sr., Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy, Legislative Initiatives, and Outreach at HUD/FHEO, and Lorraine Collins, Assistant Commissioner/Director Fair and Equitable Housing Office at NYS HCR; and Disparate Impact by Michael Goldberger, Chief of Civil Rights, Civil Division, Assistant US Attorney, USAO Eastern District of NY, and Peter L. Contini of L'Abbate, Balkan, Colavita & Contini.
• Oct. 30, 2015 – Bagels with the Boards: Planning & Zoning for Disaster Resilience by Maggie Palmer, Sam Capasso & Chelsea Holland of the New York City Environmental Law Leadership Institute (NYCELLI)
• Nov. 20, 2015 – Bagels with the Boards: Reed v. Town of Gilbert – Signs of Our Times by A. Thomas Levin of Meyer Suozzi English & Klein PC
• Feb. 26, 2016 – Bagels with the Boards: Form Based Codes by Joel Russell, Executive Director of the Form-Based Codes Institute
• Mar. 11, 2016 – Second Annual Long Island Coastal Resilience Summit
• Apr. 22, 2016 – Bagels with the Boards: The Grasping Hand – Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain by Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law
• May 27, 2016 – Bagels with the Boards: Planning & Zoning for Small and Medium Wind Energy by Sarah Adams-Schoen and Evan Zablow, Land Use & Sustainable Development Law Institute Director and Graduate Fellow
• June 24, 2016 – Bagels with the Boards: Ethics Update by Touro Law Dean Patricia Salkin

 

All Land Use & Sustainable Development Law Institute programs at Touro Law Center are accredited for CLE (professional practice credits), AICP CM Law credits are anticipated for the Sept., Oct., Mar., April and June programs, and AICP CM general credits are anticipated for the Nov., Feb., and May programs. The Law Center issues certificates of attendance for self-accreditation for architecture, engineering and municipal board continuing education credits.

World Planning Schools Congress call for abstracts (October 5 deadline)

From the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP): You might be interested in the abstract submission window for the upcoming World
Planning Schools Congress in 2016: submission deadline October 5^th.
For detailed information about the conference and how to submit an abstract
visit http://www.wpsc2016.com.br/.  The conference is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July, 3rd to July 8th, 2016.  A little land use law samba, anyone?

Call for Papers: City as a Commons Conference in Bologna, Italy, Nov. 6-7, 2015

The International Association for the Study of the Commons and LABGOV have teamed up with Fordham's Urban Law Center to put together a conference entitled The City as a Commons: Reconceiving Urban Space, Common Goods and City Governance.  The conference will take place in Bologna, Italy on Nov. 6-7, 2015.  Abstracts are due before August 10, 2015 12 AM CET (so make sure you submit yours (email to  [email protected] ) by 6pm EDT on August 9th to avoid any heartache over the ambiguity inherent in midnight deadlines).  Further details, including the six themes of the conference, are available on the website (just keep scrolling down).

 

Jim K.

ALPS Call for Papers Deadline Extended

The 6th Annual Meeting of the Association of Law, Property and Society will take place in Athens, Ga at the University of Georgia School of Law from Thursday, April 30th through Saturday, May 2nd.  Jim Smith (Georgia), the conference host, sent out an email earlier today announing an extension of the deadline for proposals:

Dear Property Colleagues,

I'm writing to give you an update on plans for our 6th annual meeting, which will be held Thurs. Apr. 30 through Sat. May 2 at the University of Georgia in Athens.  Our program committee has extended the deadline for registration and the submission of abstracts and panels to March 1.  Later submissions after March 1, with a slightly higher registration fee, will be considered if there still is space available. The keynote speaker for the meeting will be Laura Underkuffler, the J. DuPratt White Professor at Cornell Law School. We are in the process of arranging a field trip for the afternoon of April 30, along with an opening reception for that evening. So if possible plan your travel to arrive in time for these events. The panels will begin Friday morning.

 

For details, see our revised Call for Papers, which is available at our conference website, where you can register and obtain information about Athens lodging:

 

http://law.uga.edu/association-law-property-society-alps

 

I hope to see you in Athens!

James C. Smith

John Byrd Martin Professor

University of Georgia

School of Law

Athens GA 30602

I and many of my fellow LUP blog contributors have enjoyed the previous ALPS conferences, especially last year's get-together in Vancouver.  We look forward to seeing you in Athens at the end of the semester!

Jim K.

Food law symposium notice and call for articles/speakers

Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum has issued a call for articles and presenters for a symposium on the national food system, which will be at Duke Law school on Friday, January 23, 2015. The working title is  "Carrots and Sticks: Moving the U.S. National Food System Toward a Sustainable Future." According to the announcement I received today, the students are in the final stages of soliciting articles and speakers, and are particularly interested in contributions on food safety and labeling.

 

If you're interested in contributing an article or participating in some way, you can contact Editor-in-Chief Francesca Bochner at [email protected], or Managing Editor Gordon Sommers at [email protected].   

 

According to Michelle Nowlin, Supervising Attorney and Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, Durham boasts pleasant January weather, an exceptional year-round Farmers' Market, many fine farm-to-table restaurants, has received many awards for its dedication to the modern food movement, and supports several independent food aggregators who are working to rebuild the regional food system. Duke also has an excellent campus farm that encourages visitors from other academic institutions. For more information on Durham, visit:  http://www.durham-nc.com/dining/, www.carolinafarmstewards.org, http://www.cefs.ncsu.edu/, www.firsthandfoods.com,  www.easterncarolinaorganics.com, http://www.cccc.edu/curriculum/majors/sustainableagriculture/. 

Upcoming conferences on ocean management and environmental law and energy law moot court competition

The following two upcoming conferences, one with a New York focus and one with a national focus, may be of interest to land use scholars and practitioners. Additionally, West Virginia University College of Law is hosting its Fifth Annual National Energy & Sustainability Moot Court Competition, which may be of interest to students focused on land use, energy or environmental law. Here are the details: 

Managing New York Ocean Resources:  Connecting Science and Policy

Save the date: October 18, 2014, at Hofstra University in Queens, New York.

According to an email from a contact at Stony Brook University: As directed by the National Ocean Policy, Regional and New York Ocean Action Plans and Ocean Assessments are being drafted that will protect and guide management of marine resources now and in the future. The New York Marine Sciences Consortium will host a meeting to gather input from the scientific community, policy makers, other stakeholders and the general public to inform these action plans and assessments. Conference participants' input will be used to develop recommendations and identify critical knowledge gaps regarding ocean-related human uses, natural resources, and cultural factors. The NY Marine Sciences Consortium will use this information to produce a meeting report that will be presented to New York State and to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Oceans to guide development of the Action Plans and Assessments. Click here and choose ‘Annual Conference’ for more information. 

Additionally, for those interested in coastal policy issues, related social science issues, and marine science, the conference planners are seeking input on conference design, including break-out session topics. To provide input, please fill out the online questionnaire by September 12th.

Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law (APIEL) Conference

October 17 to 19, 2014, at University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville, Tennessee.  

According to an email from Will Mazzota, President of the University of Tennessee law school's Environmental Law Organization: APIEL is a regional conference designed to bring attorneys, activists, policymakers, funders, philanthropists, students, and scientists together from across the greater Appalachian region. It is a vehicle to advance the most pressing environmental and public interest causes of our time; it will offer a chance to attend a wide selection of workshops and seminars led by lawyers, activists, and scientists. The workshops will cover a broad range of environmental public interest topics, including some topics of concern to land use practitioners and scholars. Topics include fracking, immigration, nuclear weapons, mountain top removal, and enforcement of the Clean Water Act.

It appears that APIEL may provide some travel stipends and food during conference events to attendees who need financial support.

Register for the event here. For more information about the conference, see APIEL's website. 

Fifth Annual WVU College of Law National Energy & Sustainability Moot Court Competition

Registration is open now for the March 12-14, 2015 competition in Morgantown, West Virginia.

An email from Jamie Van Nostrand, Associate Professor and Director of WVA's the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development, describes this national competition as featuring problems that focus on current issues facing the energy industry. Past problems have been based on energy and sustainability issues associated with the gulf oil spill; the nuclear incident at Fukushima Daiichi; shale gas development and the Clean Air Act; and the intersection of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and common law nuisance claims associated with utility power plants.

Register here. Registration closes on January 5, 2015, and is limited to the first forty teams. Interested schools or student groups can contact Professor Van Nostrand ([email protected], (304)293-4694) or Samantha Stefanov, Program Assistant ([email protected], phone (304)293-0064) with questions.

 

Posted by Professor Sarah J. Adams-Schoen, Director of Touro Law's Land Use & Sustainable Development Institute. You can follow the Institute's blog here, and contact Professor Adams-Schoen by email or phone ([email protected], (631)761-7137).

Congress of New Urbanism (courtesy of Yelp!)

Last week, Buffalo hosted the 22nd Congress for New Urbanism. With a constrained conference budget, I was planning on just scoping out the (numerous) public events. Then conference funding came through from a surprising source. I actually won free conference registration via Yelp! (yes it pays to  be elite). I am not sure what it says about academia when we have to look to social media to help with our research funding but I was happy to get in the door!

CNU 22 was a mixture of the inspirational and the mundane. It was amazing to see people from all over the country (and particularly so many from Buffalo) coming together to think about how to improve your communities. I bathed in the local pride (feeling the Buffalove as we say around here) and heard inspiring tales about efforts in Toronto, Minneapolis, DC, and Milwaukee. But nothing was actually radical. In some ways this is an encouraging story. It no longer seems crazy to argue that suburban sprawl is destroying community. I really didn't need convincing that we should have more walkable or bikable cities. There seems to be general agreement on what elements make for a thriving urban environment and largely agreement from the attendees on how to get there (community involvement, form based codes, economic development). Thus, while I enjoyed myself and met some fascinating folks I left the conference with an empty notebook. Maybe I just attended the wrong sessions, but I wonder what types of legal changes we might need, what type of property tools we can use, and of course who is gonna fund it all. Any suggestions?

Liveblogging ALPS session 3

So many interesting sessions here making it hard to choose which panel to attend, but I had to give some more co-blogger love and check out Ken Stahl's paper and the panel on local government law.

Nestor Davidson (Fordham Law School) started the panel off with a talk on administrative law at the local level. fascinating stuff and unquestionably important for us land-usey types. Many land use decisions are made or carried out by local agencies and I had never given much thought to how really different admin law is at the local stage. I was particularly taken aback by the lack of separation of powers and the increased blurring of public and private lines.

Ken Stahl presented a paper/essay/book review building off "The Great American City" by Sampson. Here is the official abstract:

Urban policymakers have long debated whether to focus on people or on places. Give poor people the means to leave deteriorated neighborhoods, or attempt to bolster such neighborhoods by reinforcing the social norms of the community? Direct the police to crack down on low-level crime, or foster informal connections between the police and local institutions? Definitive answers to these questions have been elusive, but Robert Sampson’s new book GREAT AMERICAN CITY provides some needed insight. Sampson demonstrates that people are ineluctable products of their local environments, and he concludes that “place-based” policies that focus on building community are more likely to be successful than policies premised on the assumption of individual mobility and choice. This essay revisits the “people v. places” debate in light of GREAT AMERICAN CITY. Though the book is sure to have a tremendous impact on that debate, Sampson devotes relatively little attention to the policy implications of his work, and thus I attempt to articulate and probe what I see as the book’s major policy implications. Principally, I interpret Sampson’s work as an implicit challenge to the predominant public choice model of local government, which conceptualizes urban residents as mobile individuals who make locational choices regardless of social context. Seen in this light, GREAT AMERICAN CITY raises important questions about the wisdom of policymakers’ longstanding reliance on the public choice model, but also leaves much to speculation. I further argue that in light of Sampson’s findings, efforts to aid disadvantaged communities might be most effective if they undertook to induce people to stay in such communities.

I have not yet read this book and really enjoyed hearing Ken's description and the concerns it raised for him with regard to neighborhood structure and power.

Ashira Ostrow (Hofstra) rounded out the panel with a talk on the strange weighted voting system used in Hudson, NY. Not clear to me (or Ashira) whether the system is constitutional (based on the one person - one vote requirement) but if so it could present an interesting structure for local governments where representative's vote are based on their number of constituents.

Liveblogging ALPS 2014

Well it is that time of the year again and most of the Land Use Profs' crew is attending the Annual Meeting of the Association of Law, Property, and Society. This year, the conference is in Vancouver, B.C. and I have to say this is the prettiest location for ALPS so far.

I spoke on a riveting panel on conservation easements this morning (shocker I know) and now get to sit back and listen to co-blogger Jim Kelly's talk: “‘That Side was made for you and me’: Unauthorized Use of Vacant Property in Inner City Neighbourhoods.” In this packed room, I enjoy the fact that Jim started with a song. His presentation discussed what might be categorized as a type of self-help improvement. Here is the official abstract:

This essay explores the social function of unauthorized uses of vacant properties, both houses and lots, in inner-city neighborhoods. Underutilized properties, particularly those abandoned by their owners, present obvious opportunities for non-owners to engage in uses that may not benefit them personally and/or may (or may not) confer social benefits. From squatters and scrappers to guerilla gardeners and anti-foreclosure activists, acquisitive and expressive “property outlaws” challenge the formality and durability of land ownership claims. By looking at contemporary phenomena such as Philadelphia Green, Take Back the Land, and Indiana’s Good Samaritan Law, the essay will sort out the constructive possibilities for supporting, ignoring and actively opposing unauthorized use of vacant inner-city properties.

The panel, which focused on violence and authorized/unauthorized uses of property. I particularly enjoyed Robin Hickey's paper about whether you can take back property that others have taken from you (in fancy terms: the right to recapture). I think my property law students would be most intrigued by Abraham Bell's talk about possession (they always want to talk about the phrase "possession is nine-tenths of the law").

 

Call for Presenters at 2014 Urban Agriculture Law Conference

Community Law Center, Inc. and University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law are hosting the 2014 Urban Agriculture Law Conference on September 19, 2014 in Baltimore to share information and best practices in urban agriculture laws, policies and practices across the country. We are currently accepting proposals for conference papers, presentations, and workshops. Click here for the Call for Papers and Presentations.  To download the application, you need to click here.

Located in the heart of Baltimore, the 2014 Urban Agriculture Law Conference  will bring together national and local leaders, legal practitioners, and scholars who are addressing the diverse roles of urban agriculture in the renewal of urban communities.

All proposals must be submitted by June 15, 2014.  Community Law Center will notify all selected speakers by July 15, 2014 of their acceptance and time slot.

Jim K.

Touro Hosts Incubator Conference

Lots of exciting stuff happening at Touro Law nowadays, where leading land use star Patricia Salkin is now the Dean.  One thing I'm particularly excited about is their upcoming conference on law firm incubators.  From the conference website:

In striving to create sustainable post-graduate programs, law school, Legal Aid and bar association administrators, in conjunction with faculty members, alumni relations directors, career service providers and local NGOs, are working together to create meaningful support programs for their graduates or members. The challenges lie in managing limited resources available for the programs and ultimately ensuring sustainability of the programs and the law practices created by the participants.

 

This conference will explore ways to overcome institutional obstacles to program development and implementation, promote collaboration among interested organizations, define costs involved in creating new programs, and highlight the best practices for successful post-graduate incubators and residency programs. It will use a range of formats: speaker presentations, round-table discussions and visits to programs in New York City metropolitan area.

 

The conference is April 3-4 in Long Island.  I plan to attend, and I hope to meet some of you there!

 

Jamie Baker Roskie

CFP: Comparative Urban Law Conference

Here's an interesting sounding one!

Call For Participation : Comparative Urban Law Conference
June 30, 2014, London, England

The Fordham Urban Law Center is pleased to announce a call for participation for the Comparative Urban Law Conference, which will be held on Monday, June 30, 2014 at Loyola Hall, University of London. The Conference will gather legal and other scholars for a provocative, engaging conversation about the field of "urban law" from an international, comparative, and interdisciplinary perspective. The Conference will focus on the nature and boundaries of urban law as a discipline, which participants will explore through overlapping themes such as the structure of local authority and autonomy and the role of law in urban policy areas such as environmental sustainability, consumer protection, public health, housing, and criminal justice, among others. The goal is to facilitate an in-depth exploration across sub-specialties within the legal academy to help develop an understanding of urban law in the twenty-first century.

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Potential participants in panels and workshops throughout the day should submit a one-page proposal to Professor Nestor Davidson at [email protected]. If you are already working on a draft paper, please include that draft with your submission, but participants do not need to have prepared a formal paper to join the conversation. The deadline for topic proposal submissions is Thursday, February 13. We will discuss potential publishing options available as a result of conference participation. Please contact Annie Decker at [email protected] with any questions.

ABOUT THE URBAN LAW CENTER: The Urban Law Center at Fordham Law School in New York City is committed to understanding and affecting the legal system's place in contemporary urbanism. See: http://law.fordham.edu/urbanlawcenter.htm for more information about our activities.

CFP: Land Trust Alliance Annual Meeting

The Land  Trust Alliance's annual conference (I love that they call it a Rally) will be September 18-20 in Providence. The call for papers went out recently and they usually have a wide variety of seminars and workshops. Proposals are due February 24th. More info about the call and the presentations and the conference itself available here. And let me know if you plan to go. I'll be there!

Professors' Corner teleconference on Real Estate Issues in the Bankruptcy Courts

It's time for the monthly "Professors' Corner" teleconference sponsored by the ABA Real Property Section.  Here's this month's info! --Matt Festa

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Professors' Corner:   Wednesday, August 14, 2013

12:30pm Eastern/11:30am Central/9:30am Pacific

Call-in number: 866-646-6488

Passcode: 5577419753

Professors’ Corner is a monthly FREE teleconference sponsored by the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section's Legal Education and Uniform Laws Group.  Each month’s call features a panel of law professors who discuss recent cases or issues of interest to real estate practitioners and scholars.  Members of the AALS Property section are invited and encouraged to join in this call.

Our program on Wednesday, August 14 is “Real Estate Issues in the Bankruptcy Courts.”  Our panel will discuss the latest on several important real estate issues in bankruptcy, including the “absolute priority” rule in individual Chapter 11 cases; the “strip-off” of underwater liens in Chapters 11 and 13; and the artificial impairment and artificial classification in Chapter 11 cases.

Our panelists for the program include three leading bankruptcy scholars:

Professor Ralph Brubaker, University of Illinois College of Law.  Prof. Brubaker has taught at Illinois since 2004 after many years at Emory University Law School.  He has served as Interim Dean and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Illinois and most recently as the Guy Raymond Jones Faculty Scholar.  He will discuss a recent Fifth Circuit decision, In re Village at Camp Bowie I, L.P., and the extent to which a Chapter 11 debtor can “artificially” impair claims to facilitate cramdown of a reorganization plan and the status of the “artificial classification” doctrine.  

Professor Bruce Markell, Florida State University.  Prof. Markell returns to teaching at FSU in 2013 as the Jeffrey A. Stoops Professor, after many years of service as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Nevada and as a member of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit.  Prior to his service as bankrutpcy judge, Prof. Markell had a distinguished career as a law teacher at both Indiana University and UNLV.  He will address recent case developments involving the “absolute priority rule,” including whether the rule applies in individual Chapter 11 cases and Judge Easterbrook’s recent “new value” decision in In re Castleton Plaza.

Professor Robert Lawless, University of Illinois.  Prof. Lawless has taught at Illinois since 2006, and previously taught at both Missouri and UNLV. He currently serves as the Associate Dean for Research and the Co-Director of the Illinois Program on Law, Behavior, and Social Science.  Prof. Lawless will address recent case developments regarding the ability of Chapter 11 and 13 debtors to “strip-off” underwater mortgage liens.

Please join us on Wednesday for this program!

PLPR 2014 Annual Conference - Call for Papers

The next annual conference of the International Academic
Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights will be hosted by the Center
for Urban and Regional Studies at the Technion University in Haifa, Israel,
from February 11 - 14, 2014. 

Details and the call for papers can be found at: http://plpr2014.net.technion.ac.il/

Please don't hesitate to contact the chair of the host
committee, Rachelle Alterman ([email protected]),
if you have any questions.

I attended this conference in Portland, Oregon this past February and was impressed by the quality and quantity of law and planning faculty from around the world.  I hope to attend again next year in Haifa, and highly recommend it to our readers.

Ken Stahl