Jason Knight, Ph.D.

Dr. Knight coordinates the B.S. Urban and Regional Planning and the Minor in Urban and Regional Planning.

In addition to undergraduate planning courses, Dr. Knight teaches courses in community planning and housing in the MPA program.  He is a member of the MPA Faculty Committee & MPA Advisory Committee.

Dr. Knight’s research interest focuses on the physical and social evolution of cities and their constituent neighborhoods, with a particular interest in policy and planning for distressed neighborhoods. He is also interested in the decline of suburbs, especially traditional, first-ring suburbs. Emerging within his research is an emphasis on the role of community organizations and stakeholders in (re)shaping their neighborhoods.

A certified planner by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), he still engages in local planning projects and programs, most recently with projects in the City of Tonawanda. He is the President of the City of Tonawanda Main Street Program’s Board of Directors and is a member of Habitat for Humanity of Buffalo’s Site Selection Committee.

He teaches Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning; Planning Methods; Housing Policy; Planning for Sustainable Communities; Planning Practicum; and Urban Geography.

Peer Reviewed Manuscripts

Knight, Jason; Weaver, Russell, and Jones, Paula. 2018. “Walkable and resurgent for whom? The uneven geographies of walkability in Buffalo, NY.” Applied Geography 92: 1-11.

Knight, Jason; Jones, Paula; and Weaver, Russell. 2018. “Collaborative Property Condition Assessment for Neighborhood Change: An Example of ‘Community Geography’ in Buffalo, New York” Community Development Practice. (In Press)

Weaver, Russell C. and Knight, Jason. 2017. “Analysis of a Multipronged Community Development Initiative in Two Distressed Neighborhoods” Community Development Journal 53(2): 301-320.

Weaver, Russell C. and Knight, Jason. 2014. “Evolutionary Mismatch as a General Framework for Land Use Policy and Politics” Land 3(2): 504-523.

Frazier, Amy E.; Bagchi-Sen, Sharmistha; and Knight, Jason. 2013. “The Spatio-Temporal Impacts of Demolition Land Use Policy and Crime in a Shrinking City” Applied Geography 41: 55-64.

Weaver, Russell C. and Knight, Jason. 2012. “Land Use, Society, and Evolutionary Mismatch: A Case Study of the Buffalo, NY Outer Harbor Parkway Project" Middle States Geographer 45:57-66.

Books

Weaver, Russell, Bagchi-Sen, Sharmistha, Knight, Jason, and Frazier, Amy. 2016. Shrinking Cities: Understanding Urban Decline in the United States. Routledge: London.

Technical Reports

Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, City of Tonawanda, New York. Clarke Patterson Lee Design Professionals, WWS Planning, Jason Knight, Joy Kuebler Landscape Architect, PC. 2016.

Little City – Big Community: City of Tonawanda Comprehensive Plan, New York. Clarke Patterson Lee Design Professionals, WWS Planning, Jason Knight, Joy Kuebler Landscape Architect, PC.

New York State Land Banks: Combating Blight and Vacancy in New York Communities. CenterState CEO, New York State Land Bank Association, and SUNY Buffalo State. 2014.

Community Plans and Reports

A Housing and Neighborhood Strategy, City of Tonawanda, NYS Zombie Grant Program,

Comprehensive Plan - Community Profile Update, Town of Cheektowaga, New York, Jason Knight and Russell Weaver. (In progress)

Little City – Big Community: City of Tonawanda Comprehensive Plan, City of Tonawanda, New York. Clarke Patterson Lee Design Professionals, WWS Planning, Jason Knight, Joy Kuebler Landscape Architect, PC.

Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, City of Tonawanda, New York. Clarke Patterson Lee Design Professionals, WWS Planning, Jason Knight, Joy Kuebler Landscape Architect, PC.

Conference Proceedings

“Rational and Equitable: A Framework for Housing Policy in Distressed Cities.” Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, New Orleans, LA, April 11, 2018. (with Charles Buki and Russell Weaver).

“The Spatial Anatomy of a Housing Market in a Shrinking City/Suburb: The Case of Tonawanda, NY.” Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, New Orleans, LA, April 11, 2018. (with Russell Weaver and Paula Jones).

“Walkable and Resurgent for Whom?” Building a Healthy Buffalo and WNY Walkability and Activism: A Look at How the Walking Movement Impacts Grassroots Action, Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo, February 3, 2018. *

“Measuring and Mapping Urban Shrinkage in the United States.” Middle State Division of the AAG, Annual Conference, SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, New York. October 2017.

“Kriging for Community Development: Building Institutional Capacity through the Application of a Quantitative Method for Neighborhood Housing Assessment.” Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Annual Conference, Denver, CO, October 2017. (with Paula Jones and Russell Weaver)

“Residential Segregation and the Evolution of the Built Environment in the Former Walking City.” Society for American City and Regional Planning History Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, October 2017. (with Paula Jones)

“Legacy Cities, Legacy Suburbs: Actually Existing Shrinkage and Decline in the Suburbs of the Rust Belt.” Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, Boston, MA, April 5, 2017. (with Russell Weaver)

“Creating Community Wealth: Analyzing Responses to Decline in Rural North Carolina.” Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, Boston, MA, April 5, 2017. (with Russell Weaver)

“Understanding the Child Welfare System and Housing Policy from a Social Ecological Perspective: The Case of Divergent Buffalo.” American Collegiate Schools of Planning Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon, November 5, 2016. (presented by Nathan Attard).

“Divergent Neighborhood Trajectories in a Shrinking City: Growth and Decline Side-by-Side in Buffalo, New York.” Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, San Francisco, California, April 2, 2016. (with Russell Weaver)

“The Patchwork Geographies of Socioeconomic and Physical Distress in American Core Based Statistical Areas.” Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, San Francisco, California, April 2, 2016. (with Russell Weaver)