Rachel Weber
Director of Graduate Studies, Professor, Urban Planning and Policy
Department of Urban Planning and Policy
Contact
Building & Room:
236 CUPPA Hall, MC 348
Address:
412 S. Peoria St., Suite 236
Office Phone:
Email:
About
I am an urban planner, political economist, and economic geographer who researches the relationship between finance and the built environment. My focus has been on instruments (tax increment financing, auction rate securities, crowdfunding, mortgage backed securities, tax credits) and infrastructures (school facilities, toll roads, commercial real estate). I am interested in why cities adopt certain instruments and how the use of particular methods of raising capital affects who benefits from and pays for urban infrastructures. In my work I have advanced the concept of “financialization” as shorthand for how these tools bring new politics, kinds of knowledge, and risks to bear on policy and development decisions.