Episode Details

Jackelyn Hwang is an expert on the social dynamics of cities. In one line of research, she combines AI and Google Street View to measure quality-of-life factors – such as trash, blight, new construction, and the pace of recovery from climate disasters – to analyze gentrification, racial equity, and overall resident well-being. Her work has shown, for instance, that predominantly Black neighborhoods are last and slowest to gentrify and that displaced Black residents often end up in worse neighborhoods. She recently worked with policymakers at the housing department of Oakland, California, on anti-displacement and anti-homelessness programs and is now working with policymakers across the Bay Area to strengthen neighborhoods. We are clearing a path to more stable communities for everyone, Hwang tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.

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Episode Reference Links:

• Stanford Profile: Jackelyn Hwang
• Learn more about Jackie's work on housing instability in Oakland

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Chapters:

(00:00:00) Introduction

Russ Altman introduces guest Jackie Hwang, a professor of sociology at Stanford University.

(00:02:53) Path into Urban Sociology

How Hwang’s experiences near Philadelphia shaped her interest in cities, inequality, and neighborhood change.

(00:04:56) The 21st-Century American City

How gentrification, immigration, crime, education, housing, and climate change are reshaping cities.

(00:08:03) Defining Gentrification

How sociologists understand gentrification as a class-based transformation of neighborhoods.

(00:10:02) Studying Gentrification

Why race, segregation, and neighborhood inequality complicate simple stories of urban renewal.

(00:11:50) Displacement and Instability

Why gentrification does not always increase moving rates, but still affects where people end up.

(00:14:48) Policy and Anti-Displacement

How Hwang’s research informs local policy, housing strategy, and homelessness prevention.

(00:18:10)