California Spotlight
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Event Date: October 31st, 2023
12:00pm-1:30pm
California Spotlight: From Boom to Doom in San Francisco
Join us on October 31, 2023 as a group of panelists will discuss the current state of commercial real estate in San Francisco — and what lies ahead. Panelists include Ted Egan, Chief Economist of the City and County of San Francisco; Nicholas Bloom, the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University; and Nancy Wallace, the Lisle and Roslyn Payne Chair in Real Estate Capital Markets at Berkeley Haas. Amir Kermani, Associate Professor of Finance and Real Estate at the Haas School of Business and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, will moderate.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published July 27, 2023
The Binational Politics of Return Migrant Activism: Interview with Caroline Tracey
Listen to (or read) an interview with Caroline Tracey, a PhD from the UC Berkeley Department of Geography, whose research uses ethnographic, archival, and literary methods to study the American Southwest, Mexico, and the US-Mexico border. Tracey argues that women and trans deportees and returnees play an important role in community-building and activism in Mexico that has improved emplacement for all return migrants.
Learn More >Affiliated Centers
Recap
Published April 28, 2023
Reshaping City Politics? Asian Voters’ Demands for Change in San Francisco and Vancouver
In 2022, Asian voters shocked the political establishment in San Francisco and Vancouver. Presented by UC Berkeley's Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research, this panel featured insiders from both cities, including Ken Sim’s campaign manager, a leader from Vancouver’s Canadian-Chinese community, a leader in the San Francisco school board recall campaign who was appointed to the school board herself, and scholar Neil Malhotra.
Learn More >Panel
Recap
Published May 24, 2022
Floods and Equity: A Panel Discussion
Floods are the most destructive natural hazard, both at the national and international scale, and they disproportionately affect people of color and the poor. In this presentation, recorded on May 12, 2022, panelists Danielle Zoe Rivera and Jessica Ludy drew upon their research to discuss pathways to improving on the current situation.
Learn More >Matrix Research Team
Recap
Published May 3, 2022
Digital Transformations in Global Land, Housing, and Property
Recorded on April 27, 2022, this panel discussion brought together members of the UC Berkeley Social Science Matrix Research Team on Digital Transformations in Property and Development to discuss how state, corporations, and grassroots actors are employing digital technologies to remake global land, housing, and property.
Learn More >California Spotlight
Recap
Published April 12, 2022
The Social and Economic Impacts of Wildfires
Recorded on April 4, 2022, this panel focused on the contemporary social and economic impacts of wildfires in California during another record-breaking fire season. How have fires changed during the last five years, and with what impacts on the economy? How might policy-makers and economists respond to the changing fire season? The panel was co-sponsored by the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) and presented as part of the Social Science Matrix California Spotlight series.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
Recap
Published November 29, 2021
Shareholder Cities: Land Transformations along Urban Corridors in India
Recorded on November 16, 2021, this video presents an “Authors Meet Critics” panel focused on the book, Shareholder Cities: Land Transformations along Urban Corridors in India (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), by Sai Balakrishnan, Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley, with a joint appointment with DCRP and Global Metropolitan Studies. Professor Balakrishnan was joined in conversation by Sharad Chari, Associate Professor of Geography at UC Berkeley, and Michael Watts, Class of ‘63 and Chancellor’s Professor of Geography Emeritus, and Co-Director of Development Studies at UC Berkeley.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published October 29, 2021
Matrix on Point: New Directions in Studying Policing
Contemporary movements like Black Lives Matter and the prison abolition movement point to the long histories of police violence and mass incarceration in the United States and elsewhere, demanding new approaches to approaching the history and present of policing. In this Matrix on Point panel, recorded on October 25, 2021, UC Berkeley graduate students were joined by outside experts in discussing the impacts of policing on the lives and health of officers and the communities they serve, as well as how contemporary policing practices are related to an unjust past.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published September 16, 2021
A New Voice for Black History: Xavier Buck, PhD
In this episode of the Matrix Podcast, Julia Sizek interviews Xavier Buck, Deputy Director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. Buck graduated with a PhD in History from UC Berkeley in 2021. The discussion focuses on Buck’s work in public history, including his @historyin3 channel (which can be found on TikTok and Instagram), his current work at the Huey P. Newton Foundation, and his dissertation research, which shows connections between Black experiences in Louisiana and California in the 20th century.
Learn More >Cities
Interview
Published September 1, 2021
A Photographic Interview: Kaily Heitz on Black Oakland
Kaily Heitz, who earned her PhD from the UC Berkeley Department of Geography in 2021, studies how concepts of Blackness and Black culture are deployed in the making and marketing of Oakland, California. Her dissertation, entitled “Oakland is a Vibe: Blackness, Cultural Framings and Emancipations of The Town,” draws on Black feminist geographies and media studies to understand contemporary conflicts over gentrification in “The Town.” This interview by Julia Sizek, a PhD candidate in the UC Berkeley Department of Anthropology, revolves around images from Kaily’s work that help reveal the arguments of her work.
Learn More >California Spotlight
Interview
Published August 11, 2021
Kate Pennington on Gentrification and Displacement in San Francisco
What impact does new housing have on rents, displacement, and gentrification in the surrounding neighborhood? Read our interview with economist Kate Pennington about her article, "Does Building New Housing Cause Displacement?:The Supply and Demand Effects of Construction in San Francisco.”
Learn More >Race
Interview
Published June 9, 2021
A Q&A with Social Psychologist Jack Glaser on Racial Bias and Policing
Jack Glaser, Professor in the Goldman School of Public Policy, is a social psychologist whose primary research interest is in stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. He investigates the implications of racial profiling and other forms of bias in law enforcement. We spoke with Professor Glaser for his insights on bias in policing in the wake of the past year's protests for racial justice and police reform.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published March 30, 2021
Matrix Podcast: Interview with Brittany Birberick
In this episode, Professor Michael Watts interviews Brittany Birberick, an anthropology PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley — and a former Matrix Dissertation Fellow. Birberick's dissertation project focuses on urban transformation in Johannesburg, South Africa. More broadly, she writes and thinks about economies, migration, temporality, and aesthetics within an urban context.
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