The research project examines how Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) impacts the housing markets of neighborhoods where it is implemented. The study focuses on the impacts of IZ in New York City and Paris, two cities at the forefront of adopting IZ in their respective countries.

As the geographic scale of IZ is relatively small, typically not coterminous with census or other administrative boundaries and has the potential to impact neighborhoods within a short period of time, novel sources of data will have to be utilized to examine the impacts of IZ on surrounding neighborhoods.

The research project will make use of data from on-line the online real estate platform Zillow for the New York City based analysis and the Observatoire des Loyers for the Paris based analysis. Obtaining these data will require the use of data-scraping technology and the use of machine learning to impute the value of rental transactions when necessary. The project will thus provide an opportunity to apply data science methods to address a problem with practical policy implications.

One selected candidate will receive a stipend via the DSI Scholars program. Amount is subject to available funding.

Faculty Advisor

  • Professor: Lance Freeman
  • Department/School: Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Project Timeline

  • Earliest starting date: 3/2/2020
  • End date: 8/31/2020
  • Number of hours per week of research expected during Spring 2020: ~8
  • Number of hours per week of research expected during Summer 2020: ~20

Candidate requirements

  • Skill sets: Web-scraping, machine learning, statistical analysis
  • Student eligibility: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, master’s
  • International students on F1 or J1 visa: eligible