Rachel Weber

Rachel Weber (Photo: Jenny Fontaine/University of Illinois Chicago)

Why do cities change so rapidly, with some areas booming while others thin out or spiral into decline?

Rachel Weber, an expert on real estate finance and urban redevelopment, finds fault with conventional analyses of building cycles, which assume that developers respond mechanically to the needs of potential occupants.

Weber investigates the building booms when real estate, financial markets and public planning go into overdrive to demolish and rebuild. She studies tax increment financing, property tax appeals and the role of debt markets in city policy to illuminate the politics behind urban redevelopment and the deal-making behind zoning, permitting, property assessment and financial incentives.