Georgia State University’s Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth has launched an online journal, the Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy, which will serve as a tool for lawyers, planners, policy-makers and scholars in metropolitan regions around the world.
The journal is a resource for those grappling with growth-related issues such as equitable and sustainable development; taxation and infrastructure finance; social mix, affordable housing and housing finance; historic preservation; and climate change, environmental law and green space preservation.
“The mission of our center is to work collaboratively across the globe to solve critical issues facing metropolitan regions, creating sustainable, equitable and resilient communities,” said Julian C. Juergensmeyer, center director and Ben F. Johnson Jr. Chair in Law. “Launching the Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy online provides a platform, accessible around the world, for scholars, practitioners and policy-makers to share ideas, strategies and lessons learned.”
“Over the course of nearly 15 years, the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth has developed a reputation as a leader in urban legal studies in the United States and abroad,” said Colin Crawford, Robert C. Cudd Professor of Law and director of the Payson Graduate Program in Global Development at Tulane University. “...I expect that the journal will become an invaluable resource for academics, professionals in the field and those interested worldwide in urban issues, law and policy.”
“In 2000, fewer than half of the Earth's 6 billion people lived in urban areas; by 2050, 70 percent or more than 6 billion people will,” said Arthur C. Nelson, professor of planning and real estate development at University of Arizona. “In effect, urban areas will account for virtually all of the planet's growth.
“Despite vast cultural, economic, political, climate and landscape differences, the world's urban areas face common challenges,” Nelson said. “How those challenges are addressed also differ, often dramatically. Missing among scholarly journals is one devoted to identifying global urban challenges and comparing how different urban areas address them from legal, planning and policy perspectives. The Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy meets this need.”
Juli Ponce Sole, director of the research institute TransJus at the University of Barcelona, believes the comparative approach taken by the journal is necessary.
"In our globalized urban world, lawyers, planners, policy-makers and scholars can benefit from comparative research.The international approach of the journal is also an important aspect, extending beyond the Americas or Europe and covering the whole world."
As the global economy continues to thrive through urban agglomeration, cities should be empowered to provide the resources and expertise necessary to create an environment that maximizes sustainability and productivity, said Janice Griffith, professor of law at Suffolk University.
“A front-runner in providing cutting edge research, the Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy leads the way in improving urban conditions by comparing the experience and performance of metropolitan areas.” Griffith said.
The name of this new, important, and promising journal stakes out the four corners of this largely untraversed landscape,” said Dwight Merriam, partner at Robinson & Cole LLP.
“It will offer, and does already in its premier issue, a comparative view of land use law and policy issues internationally, especially those connected, even in six-degrees-of Kevin-Bacon fashion, with growth. Those of us in America have always been too inward looking compared to our compatriots around the world,” Merriam said. “The Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy is our window to the world and provides all of us, around the globe, with the forum we have needed for so long to learn from each other."
“I am honored to be part of the editorial board of the journal,” said Romulo Sampaio, founding partner of Reis & Sampaio LLP and professor of law and Director of the Research and Policy Center for law and the Environment at Getulio Vargas Foundation School of Law. I am very proud to have contributed to the comparative work on urban law and policy done in Brazil and South America, a piece of the internationally celebrated center’s work. This journal is an opportunity to bring together the important manuscripts of lawyers, planners, policy-makers and scholars working in cities around the world.”
The first edition contains research articles from the center’s 2016 Study Space Program in Cape Town, South Africa. The articles cover a wide range of topics – land use, sustainable development, security, finance, governance, etc. – highlighting the interconnected and complex challenges facing metropolitan regions.
The editorial board consists of: Juergensmeyer, editor in chief; Karen Marie Johnston (J.D. ’08), managing editor; Ryan Max Rowberry and John Travis Marshall, associate editors. The geographically and diverse board of advisors consists of Ellen Margrethe Basse, Crawford, Griffith, Lydie Louis, Camille Mailot, Claudio Monteiro, Nelson, Sampaio, Ponce Sole, Bruce Stiftel and Maria Kenig-Witkowska.