Lance Freeman

Lance Freeman is the Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor of City and Regional Planning and Sociology. Neighborhoods are what fascinates him and motivates his research. He studies how neighborhoods change and evolve over time, the role neighborhoods play in people’s lives, and he is exploring how we can use social media and other new technologies as tools to study neighborhoods. His study of neighborhoods is motivated by an aim to learn how we can use this knowledge to plan and build better and more equitable places. He has published a number of articles on issues related to gentrification, urban poverty, housing policy, urban sprawl, the relationship between the built environment and public health and residential segregation.  His books include There Goes the Hood: Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up, A Haven and a Hell: The Ghetto in Black America, and Planning and Control of Land Development.