Nestor M. Davidson

Emma Bloomberg Professor of Real Estate, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Affiliated Faculty, Harvard Law School; Bloomberg Center for Cities faculty affiliate

In his scholarship and teaching, Nestor M. Davidson explores a set of related questions around transactional dynamics in real estate as well as regulatory frameworks for real estate markets. Those questions include doctrinal and legal-structural concerns in affordable housing and fair housing, property theory and the constitutional dimensions of property law, and legal determinants of the built environment. He has distinguished himself in the field of urban law, exploring undertheorized constitutional and administrative dimensions of urban governance, the role of law in city life, and critical faultlines in the legal relationship between states and local governments.

Davidson has published widely in leading law journals, including the Columbia Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal. Among the books he has co-authored or co-edited are “Law and the New Urban Agenda” (Routledge 2020); “The New Preemption Reader” (West 2019); “The Cambridge Handbook of the Law of the Sharing Economy” (Cambridge University Press 2018); and “Law Between Buildings: Emergent Global Perspectives on Urban Law” (Routledge 2017). His current book project, “Cities in Law: Urbanism as a Legal Phenomenon,” is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

Christopher Herbert

Managing Director, Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University; Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Bloomberg Center for Cities faculty affiliate

Christopher Herbert has extensive experience conducting research related to housing policy and urban development, both in the U.S. and abroad. A key focus of his research has been on the financial and demographic dimensions of homeownership, and the implications for homeownership policy of the recession, housing bust, and foreclosure crisis. Having previously worked at the Joint Center in the 1990s, Herbert rejoined the Center in 2010 from Abt Associates, to serve as the Director of Research. In this role, Dr. Herbert led the team responsible for producing the Center’s annual State of the Nation’s Housing and its biannual America’s Rental Housing reports, essential resources for both public and private decision makers in the housing industry.

Dr. Herbert was named managing director of the Joint Center in 2015, and oversees the Center’s diverse sponsored research programs, its local and national conferences and symposia, as well as its student fellowship programs, designed to help train and inspire the next generation of housing leaders. He is also a Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in the Department of Urban Planning and Design.

Danielle Johnson

Director for the Office of Housing Stability, city of Boston

Danielle Johnson is the director for the Office of Housing Stability (OHS), situated in the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH). Prior to joining MOH, Danielle was the managing attorney of the Elder, Health and Disability Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) where she worked on impactful litigation that ensured elders were not displaced from their homes and/or received benefits such as Masshealth and Social Security. She also worked as a staff attorney in the Housing Unit of GBLS where she worked with tenants who were in danger of losing their housing. In addition to eviction defense, Johnson worked in collaboration with various organizations and advocacy groups throughout the Greater Boston area to ensure that systemic problems related to housing instability were addressed.

Johnson teaches negotiation at Northeastern Law. She is also an adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School, where she teaches access to justice.

Hanneke van Deursen

Director of Special Projects, Chicago Residential Investment Fund