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Faculty Profile

Clement Lai

title

Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning and Asian American Studies

department

City & Regional Planning

address

317 West Sibley

phone

(607) 254-6540

email

ckl28@cornell.edu

Clement Lai is an ethnic studies scholar and social geographer with a joint appointment in the Asian American Studies Program and in City and Regional Planning.

His research focuses on three key areas: 1) race and the city, 2) political movements, and 3) power and difference. His ongoing research projects include a study of urban renewal and its effect on communities of color in San Francisco and an examination of mid-20th Century multiracial and multiethnic neighborhoods in the U.S.

education

  • B.A., Pomona College, 1987
  • M.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1997
  • Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2006

courses

  • CRP 395/629, The Asian American Urban Experience
  • CRP 395.17/629.17, Property, Gentrification, and Displacement
  • CRP 395.03/679.03, Race, Space, and Place
  • AAS110, Introduction to Asian American Studies

Developing a new a course on Marxism and racial theory and another on the anti-globalization movement


research

  • Asian-American history and politics
  • Intersection of racial and spatial theory
  • Urban renewal/redevelopment
  • Social movements
  • Multiracial politics
  • Property and expropriation

Conducting archival research at the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California on mid-20th Century multiracial neighborhoods in Los Angeles

associations

Community Service

-Ithaca Asian American Association
-Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
-Woodminster Community Theatre, Oakland, CA
-Volunteer at National Japanese American Historical Society
-Volunteer with Urban Voice
-Volunteer with Chinese Progressive Association
-Volunteer at Joaquin Miller Elementary
-Volunteer with A-zine


exhibitions


  • “The Fall of the Fillmore District: Socio-spatial Differentiation and Urban Renewal in a Multiracial Neighborhood,” Paper presented at Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference, Milwaukee, WI, October 2007
  • “The Model Minority and Racial Positioning,” Talk at Multicultural Resident Dormitory, Cornell, November 2008
  • “Asian American Ethnic Enclaves: Development, Struggle, Solidarity,” Paper presented at East Coast Asian American Studies Union Conference, Ithaca, NY, February 2008
  • “Race and Community Planning in a Multiracial Neighborhood: A Historical Case Study,” Joint AESOP-ACSP Conference, Chicago, IL, July 2008