Publications
As director of the Legal Constructs Lab, Professor Bronin investigates law’s deep influence on place, through an interdisciplinary approach that spans legal and spatial analysis, as well as quantitative and qualitative methods. Her publications focus on land use and historic preservation law, and also explore energy, environmental, transportation, and state and local government laws whose impact on place may be less obvious.
Books & Treatises
Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World
W.W. Norton, 2024
Restatement (Fourth) of Property
American Law Institute (with Henry E. Smith et al.), 2015-
Rathkopf’s The Law of Zoning and Planning
West Publishing (with Dwight H. Merriam), 2014-
Historic Preservation Law
Foundation Press (with J. Peter Byrne), 1st ed 2012, 2d ed 2021
Land Use Regulation
Foundation Press (with Stewart E. Sterk and Eduardo M. Peñalver), 2d ed 2016, 3d ed 2020
Historic Preservation Law in a Nutshell
West Publishing (with Ryan M. Rowberry), 1st ed 2014, 2d ed 2018
Articles & Scholarly Essays
Indigenous Knowledge as Federal Policy
43 Virginia Environmental Law Journal, 2024
Bringing Zoning into Focus: A Fine-Grained Analysis of Zoning’s Relationships to Housing Affordability, Income Distributions, and Segregation in Connecticut
Urban Institute Research Series (with Yonah Freemark and Lydia Lo), 2023
Regulating History
108 Minnesota Law Review 241 (with Leslie R. Irwin), 2023
Automating Zoning Data Collection: Results from a Pilot Effort to Automate Zoning Atlas Methodologies
Urban Institute Research Series, 2023
Zoning by a Thousand Cuts
50 Pepperdine Law Review 719, 2023
Land Grab: The Untold Story of Fort Brown
Latino Book Review, 2022
Integrity as a Legal Concept
Change Over Time: An International Journal of Conservation & the Built Environment, 2022
Rewriting Our Nation’s Deadly Traffic Manual
135 Harvard Law Review Forum 1 (with Gregory H. Shill), 2021
Rules of the Road: The Struggle for Safety and the Unmet Promise of Federalism
106 Iowa Law Review 2153, 2021
Law’s Disaster: Heritage at Risk
46 Columbia Journal of Environmental Law 489, 2021
Aligning Historic Preservation and Energy Efficiency: Legal Reforms to Support the Greenest Buildings
University of Pennsylvania Kleinman Center for Energy Policy Policy Digest, 2021
Zoning for Families
95 Indiana Law Journal 1, 2020
Comprehensive Rezonings
2019 BYU Law Review 725, 2020
What the Pandemic Can Teach Climate Attorneys
72 Stanford Law Review Online 2020
Energy in the Ecopolis
45 Environmental Law Reporter 10514, 2015
Community-Scale Renewable Energy
4 San Diego Journal of Climate Change & Energy Law 165 (with Hannah J. Wiseman), 2013
Building-Related Renewable Energy and 360 State Street
64 Vanderbilt Law Review 1875, 2012
Solar Rights for Texas Property Owners
89 Texas Law Review See Also 79, 2011
Curbing Energy Sprawl with Microgrids
43 Connecticut Law Review 547, 2010
Modern Lights
80 University of Colorado Law Review 881, 2009
Solar Rights
89 Boston University Law Review 1217, 2009
The Quiet Revolution Revived: Sustainable Design, Land Use Regulation, and the States
93 Minnesota Law Review 231, 2008
Wrestling with MUDs to Pin Down the Truth about Special Districts
75 Fordham Law Review 3041, 2007
Beyond Worship: The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 and Religious Institutions’ Auxiliary Uses
24 Yale Law & Policy Review 205, 2006
Rehabilitating Rehab through State Building Codes
115 Yale Law Journal 1744, 2006
Chapters
Research Directions for Historic Preservation Law
A Research Agenda for Land Use and Planning Law (Edward Elgar Publishing; Sarah Schindler and John Infranca, eds.), 2023
Land Use and Transportation Policies Addressing Climate Change
Global Climate Change and U.S. Law (American Bar Association Press; Michael B. Gerrard, Jody Freeman, and Michael Burger, eds.), 3d ed. 2022
Heritage-Related Disaster Policy in the United States
The Cambridge Handbook of Disaster Law and Policy: Risk, Recovery, and Redevelopment (Cambridge University Press; John Travis Marshall, Susan Kuo, and Ryan M. Rowberry, eds.), 2022
Adapting National Preservation Standards to Climate Change
Toward Sustainability and Equity: Envisioning Preservation Policy Reform (Columbia University Press; Erica Avrami, ed.), 2021
Historic Preservation Issues in Real Estate Development
Environmental Aspects of Real Estate and Commercial Transactions, 5th ed. (American Bar Association Press; Kevin R. Murray, ed.), 2021
National Report - United States
Architectural Heritage, Sites, and Landscapes Seized by Urban Law (Bruylant Press; David Renders, Jacqueline Morand-Deviller, and Judith Gifreu Font, eds.), 2019
Solar Rights in the United States
Delivering Energy Policy in the EU and US: A Multi-Disciplinary Reader (Edinburgh University Press; Raphael Heffron and Gavin Little, eds.), 2016
The Promise and Perils of Renewable Energy on Tribal Lands
Tribes, Land, and the Environment (Routledge; Sarah Krakoff and Ezra Rosser, eds.), 2012
Short Reviews & Professional Works
Flexible New Historic Preservation Policies Support Housing and Climate Solutions
Planning Magazine, 2024
A National Zoning Atlas to Inform Housing Research, Policy, and Public Participation
Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research (with Wenfei Xu, Scott Markley, & Diana Drogaris), 2023
The Long Shadow of Statue Statutes (reviewing Deborah R. Gerhardt article)
Jotwell, 2023
How to Make a Zoning Atlas 2.0
(with Scott Markley, Aline Fader, and Evan Derickson), 2023, as updated from time to time
Where the Sidewalk Begins
(reviewing Vanessa Casado Perez article), JOTWELL, 2022
The Environmental Case for Zoning Reform
Desegregate Connecticut (with various co-authors), 2022
Small Lots in Smart Places: A Right-Sized Solution for CT
Desegregate Connecticut (with Kathryn Blanco et al.), 2022
How to Make a Zoning Atlas: A Methodology for Translating and Standardizing District-Specific Regulations
(with Ilya Ilyankou), 2021
Get on Board for Equitable Transit-Oriented Communities
Desegregate Connecticut (with Kathryn Blanco et al.), 2021
How Uncoordinated Land Use and Transportation Laws Thwart Climate Response
State & Local Government Law Blog, 2021
Be the Change Playbook for Land Use Advocates; Be the Change Playbook for Candidates; Be the Change Playbook for Commissioners
Desegregate Connecticut (with various co-authors,) 2021
Houston: Still Zoning’s Last Frontier?
State & Local Government Law Blog, 2021
Thinking Big in Thinking Small: Are Tiny Homes the Solution to Our Housing Crisis?
(reviewing Lisa B. Alexander article), JOTWELL, 2021
Architects Can Find an Opportunity in Zoning Reform
Architype Magazine, 2021
A Case for Better Street Design
Planning Magazine, 2021
The Economic Case for Zoning Reform
Desegregate Connecticut (with various co-authors), 2021
Historic and Green in Connecticut
National Trust for Historic Preservation Leadership Forum, 2020
Rethinking Parking Minimums
Planning Magazine, 2018
Who Owns Lebanon’s Town Green?
Connecticut Explored, 2018
Rezoning the Post-Industrial City: Hartford
American Bar Association Property & Probate, 2017
Using Urban Agriculture to Grow Southern New England
Connecticut Planning (with Laurie Beyranevand, Marie Mercurio, and Sorell Negro), 2015
Peaceful Coexistence: Independent Microgrids Are Coming. Will Franchised Utilities Fight Them or Foster Them?
Public Utilities Fortnightly (with Paul R. McCary), 2013
New Haven’s Elm City Market: Coop Expands Access to Fresh Food
Communities & Banking, 2011
Contact
Sara C. Bronin
Professor, AAP
Associate Faculty, Law
Website | Publications
sara.bronin@cornell.edu
Address
Legal Constructs Lab
129 Sibley Dome
Cornell College of Architecture, Art, & Planning
Ithaca, NY 14853