The Planning and Property Lab resides in the School of City and Regional Planning at Georgia Tech. We research institutions of private property that facilitate the commodification, financialization, and assetization of housing, and linkages to displacement and dispossesion.1 Research areas include: eviction law and practices surrounding eviction; the emergence of new financial assets classes and linkages to gentrification and eviction; and how Pacific Islander communities navigate gentrification and displacement within commodified housing markets.2 As urban planners, our research is impactful, engaged with community, and policy-relevant.
Project Leads
Seumalu Elora Raymond, PhD
Associate Professor, School of City and Regional Planning
Research Assistants
Dylan Apelu, MCRP CEE 2025
Grant Sublette-Urry, MCRP 2025
Past Research Assistants
Megan Conville
PhD Student, School of City and Regional Planning
Yilun Zha
PhD Student, School of Architecture
Yilun Zha is a Ph.D. student in Urbanism specializing in urban design with Professor Ellen Dunham-Jones as his advisor. His research interest lies at the intersection of urban design, public health and geospatial data analysis. Defining himself as both planner and designer, Yilun is exploring the interplay between built environment and health, and how these knowledge can contribute to the paradigm of urban design towards a healthy city.
Prior to entering the doctoral program, Yilun received his Bachelor and Master of Urban Planning from Tongji University, China. In 2017, he was enrolled in Tongji-Georgia Tech Dual Degree program and received a master of science in urban design from Georgia Tech. During free time, he likes to play tennis and video games.
Ethan Knight-Scott
MCRP Student, School of City and Regional Planning
Ethan Knight-Scott is a graduate student studying city planning and public policy at Georgia Tech. Ethan is originally from Tyrone, GA, where he had the opportunity of working along his town’s urban planning director. That work stirred Ethan’s interest in land use and political processes for regulation.
Leah Cabrera
MCRP Student, School of City and Regional Planning
Leah Cabrera, originally from NYC, is a graduate student studying City & Regional Planning at Georgia Tech. Leah graduated from Wesleyan University in 2017 where she studied mathematics and American Studies. She spent the last three years teaching math and working on the Community & Equity Team at Concord Academy. She is interested in connecting data, stories, and planning to create more equitable spaces.
Mary Jane McCain
MCRP Student, School of City and Regional Planning
References
1. Adkins, L., Cooper, M., & Konings, M. (2020). The asset economy. John Wiley & Sons.
Bhandar, B. (2018). Colonial Lives of Property. Duke University Press.
Carruthers, B. G., & Ariovich, L. (2004). The sociology of property rights. Annu. Rev. Sociol., 30, 23-46.
2. Lilomaiava-Doktor, S. I. (2009). Beyond” migration”: Samoan population movement (malaga) and the geography of social space (vā). The Contemporary Pacific, 1-32.