Ruoniu (Vince) Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Runstad Department of Real Estate in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. He studies spatial justice and inclusive communities, including their impacts reflected in the built environment, human behaviors, and policy interventions. Vince joined the University of Washington after serving six years as the research manager and director in a national non-profit organization Grounded Solutions Network. He has designed and conducted a U.S. Census of inclusionary housing policies, a U.S. census of community land trusts, and a national performance evaluation of shared equity homeownership programs. His research expands to policy evaluation for the two largest federal assisted housing rental programs in the U.S.: the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and the Housing Choice Voucher program. Vince grounds his research with applied tools to democratize data for low-income communities.
Research Theme: Policy & Law
Research aimed at influencing or assisting policymakers, as well as scholarship on laws and policy related to the built environment
Dylan Stevenson
Dylan Stevenson’s (Prairie Band Potawatomi descent) research examines how culture informs planning strategies and influences land relationships. More specifically, he investigates how tribal epistemologies structure notions of Indigenous futurities by centering Indigenous cultural values at the forefront of environmental stewardship and cultural preservation. He is currently working on a project researching how governments (Federal, State, and Tribal) embed cultural values in Water Resources Planning strategies, drawing from ethnographic research he conducted in the joint territory of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. His other research interests include ecological restoration, intangible cultural heritage, and food systems planning. Previously, Dylan has worked for public and quasi-public entities dealing with the implementation and compliance of local, state, and federal legislation in California and has forthcoming work analyzing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in planning programs.
Dylan earned his Ph.D. in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University. He earned his master’s degree in Planning with a concentration in Preservation and Design of the Built Environment from the University of Southern California, a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics with a minor in Native American Studies from the University of California—Davis, and an associate of arts degree in Liberal Arts from De Anza College.
Rethinking Marine Infrastructure Policy and Practice: Insights from Three Large-Scale Marina Developments in Seattle
Wilson, A. Meriwether W.; Mugerauer, Robert; Klinger, Terrie. (2015). Rethinking Marine Infrastructure Policy and Practice: Insights from Three Large-Scale Marina Developments in Seattle. Marine Policy, 53, 67 – 82.
Abstract
The global transformation of the marine nearshore is generating profound losses of ecological and geomorphological functions and ecosystem services, as natural environments are replaced with built. With conservation a diminishing option and restoration often unrealistic, there is a need to rethink development and the potential for marine infrastructure to contribute to net environmental gain. Through analysis of 150 years of change associated with the development of three large-scale marinas in the Seattle area, this research identifies the ways in which evolving policy frameworks and ecological understanding determine the nature, efficiency and environmental outcomes of coastal marine developments. Decisions on infrastructure design, mitigation strategies and policy interpretations directly determined the ecological fate of marine biota inhabiting these structures as well as surrounding ecosystems. In spite of increasing evidence of environmental legislation driving mitigation and innovative engineering, the net ecological trajectories remained negative. There were no tested demonstrations of marine mitigation to confirm which measures would succeed. Where scientific understanding existed, the uptake into planning and legislation was slow. More broadly, this research highlights a need and opportunity to consider marine infrastructure as living laboratories to inform a policy shift from a no-net-loss paradigm to net-environmental-gain. This evolution is timely, with sea level rise requiring new approaches to coastal defenses and with marine energy infrastructure increasingly being located offshore, where there is little knowledge of the ecological changes occurring in both time and space. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Coastal; Restoration; Landscape; Habitats; Science; Driver; Areas; Act; Marine Coastal Infrastructure; Ecological Mitigation; Novel Marine Habitats; Environmental Governance; Pacific Northwest
Managing Change: Seattle’s 21st Century Urban Renaissance
Idziorek, Katherine; Chalana, Manish. (2019). Managing Change: Seattle’s 21st Century Urban Renaissance. Journal Of Urbanism, 12(3), 320 – 345.
Abstract
Evolution of the urban planning and historic preservation disciplines has resulted in an “uneasy alliance” in practice, one further complicated by the back-to-the-city movement and increased development pressure in older urban neighbourhoods. In Seattle, as in other U.S. cities, the pace, intensity and scale of redevelopment has caused dramatic spatial and social transformations. Although research has shown that older built fabric provides economic and social benefit for cities, neither regulations created by planners for guiding redevelopment nor strategies created by preservationists for retaining urban heritage have been successful in reconciling these different, yet interconnected, sets of values. We engage three Seattle neighbourhood case studies to clarify and evaluate policies, programs and strategies used by planners and preservationists for reimagining neighbourhood transformations. This work suggests a need for more creative, integrative collaboration between the two fields to simultaneously engage – and reconcile – social and economic tensions caused by urban redevelopment.
Keywords
Renaissance; Urban Planning; Biological Evolution; Historic Preservation; Seattle (wash.); Everyday Heritage; Seattle; Urban Conservation; Urban Renaissance; Redevelopment; Change Management; Neighborhoods; Regulation; Urban Renewal; Transformations; Cities; Preservation; Urban Areas; Planners; 21st Century; Cultural Heritage
Whither the “Hindoo Invasion”? South Asians in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, 1907-1930
Chalana, Manish. (2021). Whither the “Hindoo Invasion”? South Asians in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, 1907-1930. International Journal Of Regional & Local History, 16(1), 14 – 38.
Abstract
The first decade of the twentieth century saw several thousand men migrate from India to the North American West Coast. While most settled in British Columbia or California, a smaller number moved to the US Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon. A series of violent riots in 1907-8 drove many from the region. The basic contours of this population in the region after this time remain unclear. I uncover evidence that Indians persisted for a longer time period, and in more varied locations and occupations than some previous research suggests, but that ultimately violent exclusion led them to disappear almost entirely from the region. I investigate the conditions in which these men lived and toiled, and the ways in which they were viewed by the larger society, particularly in terms of evolving concepts of race and assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of International Journal of Regional & Local History is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Immigration; Indians; Oregon; Pacific Northwest; Punjabis; Sikh; South Asians; Washington
Periurbanization and the Politics of Development-as-City-Building in China
Abramson, Daniel Benjamin. (2016). Periurbanization and the Politics of Development-as-City-Building in China. Cities, 53, 156 – 162.
Abstract
China stands out among recently urbanized societies for the planned physicality of its rural-urban transformation the extensive marshaling of labor, capital and material resources to remake its cities and to transform rural land and communities into new, formal urban space. In China, the rural and the urban are distinguished in deeply dichotomous institutions of government, and peri-urbanization, defined as the disorderly spaces, processes and conditions of becoming urban, would appear to be a temporary stage of transition between an old rural socio-spatial order to a new urban socio-spatial order. The actual contested politics of development as-urbanization suggests otherwise, however, both on a national scale and on a community scale. The definition of development itself is at stake, and emerges unpredictably from peri-urban experience. A view of periurbanization as a process of socio-ecological adaptation is better suited to societies that have evolved in long settled, densely populated anthropogenic agrarian landscapes. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords
Urban-growth; Chengdu; Urbanization; Adaptation; Resilience; Alternative Development; Socialist New Countryside Construction; New Rural Reconstruction
Quantifying Economic Effects of Transportation Investment Considering Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity in China: A Spatial Panel Data Model Perspective
Lin, Xiongbin; Maclachlan, Ian; Ren, Ting; Sun, Feiyang. (2019). Quantifying Economic Effects of Transportation Investment Considering Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity in China: A Spatial Panel Data Model Perspective. The Annals Of Regional Science, 63(3), 437 – 459.
Abstract
Transportation investment plays a significant role in promoting economic development. However, in what scenario and to what extent transportation investment can stimulate economic growth still remains debatable. For developing countries undergoing rapid urbanization, answering these questions is necessary for evaluating proposals and determining investment plans, especially considering the heterogeneity of spatiotemporal conditions. Current literature lacks systematical research to consider the impacts of panel data and spatial correlation issue in examining the economic effects of transportation investment. To fill this gap, this study collects provincial panel data in China from 1997 to 2015 to evaluate multi-level temporal and spatial effects of transportation investment on economic growth by using spatial panel data analysis. Results show that transportation investment leads to significant and positive effects on growth and spatial concentration of economic activities, but these results vary significantly depending on the temporal and spatial characteristics of each province. The economic impacts of transportation investment are quite positive even considering the time lag effects. This study suggests that both central and local governments should carefully evaluate the multifaceted economic effects of transportation investment, such as a balanced transportation investment and economic development between growing and lagging regions, and considering the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the economic environment.
Keywords
High-speed Rail; Infrastructure Investment; Causal Relationship; Empirical-analysis; Growth; Impact; Productivity; Efficiency; Spillover; Agglomeration; C33; R40; R58; Spatial Analysis; Time Lag; Urbanization; Transportation; Heterogeneity; Economic Growth; Economic Models; Economic Impact; Data Analysis; Spatial Data; Panel Data; Economic Development; Developing Countries--ldcs; Investments; Economic Analysis; Investment; Local Government; China
The Use of Markets in Housing Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Housing Subsidy Programs
Colburn, Gregg. (2021). The Use of Markets in Housing Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Housing Subsidy Programs. Housing Studies, 36(1), 46 – 79.
Abstract
Many countries use demand-side housing subsidies to support low-income households. Unlike public or social housing programs, demand-side subsidies require recipients to enter the private market to use their benefits. The focus of this study is the experiences of assisted households in the private housing market and the outcomes they achieve. Given the link between policy design and program outcomes and because all housing subsidy programs are not created equal, one might expect the experiences and outcomes of recipients to also vary. To examine this relationship, using data from national housing surveys, this study analyzes cross-national variation in housing support programs and compares the housing and neighbourhood outcomes of subsidized households in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands. The findings of this study highlight that market context and policy design are associated with housing outcomes. In particular, the strong tenant supports and favourable design of housing assistance in the Netherlands is associated with favourable outcomes for subsidized households. In the US and the UK, subsidized households, in general, underperform their unsubsidized peers. This article underscores the importance of institutional context and program design when public assistance programs require recipients to enter the private market to use a benefit.
Keywords
Housing; Housing Subsidies; Comparative Studies; United States; Great Britain; Netherlands; Comparative; Outcomes; Subsidized Housing; Subsidy; Choice Vouchers; Poverty Deconcentration; United-states; Tax Credit; Income; Neighborhoods; Opportunity; Future; Britain; Comparative Analysis; Subsidies; Households; Context; Housing Policy; Design; Subsidies (financial); Housing Market; Low Income Groups; Public Housing; Assistance Programmes; United Kingdom--uk; United States--us
Contractual Battles for Higher Ground: Case Examples
Ottesen, Jeffery L.; Migliaccio, Giovanni C.; Wulfsberg, H. James. (2016). Contractual Battles for Higher Ground: Case Examples. Journal Of Legal Affairs And Dispute Resolution In Engineering And Construction, 8(1).
Abstract
Dispute resolution requires pursuit of mutual agreement and implies accordant resolve between the disputing parties. In truth, mutual agreement stems from acceptable risks and negotiated terms centered upon equity arguments wherein the parties assess, evaluate, negotiate, and battle for high ground. Where the parties clearly understand their respective positions relative to the applicable laws, facts outweigh emotions, and the parties are more likely to avoid disputes. This paper defines high ground based upon legal theory in quantum meruit, which means, as much as he deserves. Equity arguments can trump written contractual provisions. Owners, architects, engineers, and contractors must become wise to these arguments to protect its shareholders' interests. To promote understanding, five different case scenarios are presented using actual disputes experienced on (1) notice provisions, (2) cumulative impact claims, (3) no damages for delay clauses, (4) acceleration, and (5) owner review durations. These case scenarios demonstrate that acquiring high ground requires clear understanding and synchronization of both the contract and the applicable governing laws. Ultimately, the party possessing higher ground will find itself in a more favorable position when disputes occur. (c) 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Keywords
Legislation; Subcontracting; Disputing Parties; Equity Arguments; Legal Theory; Quantum Meruit; Contractual Provisions; Architects; Notice Provisions; Cumulative Impact Claims; Owner Review Durations; Governing Laws; Engineers; Contractors; Dispute Resolution; Contractual Battles; Project; Equity; Delay; Contractual Notice; Cumulative Impact; Total Cost Claim; No Damages For Delay; Acceleration
Section 8 Vouchers and Rent Limits: Do Small Area Fair Market Rent Limits Increase Access to Opportunity Neighborhoods? An Early Evaluation
Reina, Vincent; Acolin, Arthur; Bostic, Raphael W. (2019). Section 8 Vouchers and Rent Limits: Do Small Area Fair Market Rent Limits Increase Access to Opportunity Neighborhoods? An Early Evaluation. Housing Policy Debate, 29(1), 44 – 61.
Abstract
One critique of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s Housing Choice Voucher program is that its maximum rent limit is set at the metropolitan level, making more expensive neighborhoods effectively off limits to households who receive rental assistance. As a result, the design of the program limits a voucher household's access to opportunity neighborhood. In response, HUD created the Small Area Fair Market Rent (SAFMR) demonstration program, which calculates the maximum voucher rent at the zip code level so that HUD's rent limits more closely align with local neighborhood rents. In theory, this program should improve a voucher household's choice set and location outcomes. Looking at changes in the location of beneficiaries in the six sites that participated in the SAFMR demonstration program, we find a significant amount of regional variation in the results. Specifically, introduction of the SAFMR rent calculations results in voucher households living in higher opportunity neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas, in lower opportunity neighborhoods in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and mixed effects in other areas. These mixed results highlight some of the potential incremental benefits of the program and reinforce the importance of viewing this policy over a longer period of time, and in the context of other constraints voucher households face in accessing neighborhood opportunity.
Keywords
Choice; Mobility; Families; Live; Section 8; Low-income Housing; Subsidized Housing; Vouchers; Neighborhood; Access; Markets; Mathematical Analysis; Federal Agencies; Urban Development; Housing; Households; Neighborhoods; Rents; Limitations; Beneficiaries; Housing Subsidies; United States--us; Dallas Texas; Chattanooga Tennessee