2026 Distinguished Gifford Lecture on Racial Justice in American Land Use

The William S. Richardson School of Law invites you to the 2026 Distinguished Gifford Lecture on Racial Justice in American Land Use with Dr. Tony Arnold, sponsored by Carlsmith Ball.

Dr. Arnold will discuss why U.S. land use conditions are persistently racially unjust despite a century of legal developments, evolving movements for land-use justice, and ideas about comprehensive changes to the land-use system to advance racial justice. 

This event will be in McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon Classroom (CR 3), and livestreamed, on Thursday, April 16, 2026, beginning at 4 p.m. HST.

RSVP

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Tony Arnold is the Boehl Chair in Property and Land Use at the University of Louisville, teaches in the Brandeis School of Law and Department of Urban and Public Affairs, and directs the transdisciplinary Resilience Justice Project. His internationally-renowned and community-engaged research addresses equity and resilience in planning and land use and has been selected numerous times as among the best in environmental and land use law. His many awards for teaching and mentoring students include UofL’s top award. Arnold began his teaching career at the University of Puerto Rico over 30 years ago and then taught in Southern California, where he also served as Anaheim Planning Commission Chairman. He has been a visiting scholar at UCLA, University of Florida, and Nova University of Lisbon. He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence, with Distinction, from Stanford University.

ABOUT THE LECTURE

More than 100 years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down racial zoning in Buchanan v. Warley (1917), racial injustices persist in American land use. A new Cambridge University Press book, of which Arnold is the lead co-researcher, explores land use law and practices from the early 20^th century to the early 21^st century, addressing why and how racial injustices are intransigent despite legal prohibitions on racial discrimination. This history also includes the evolution of racial-justice social movements by expanding coalitions and addressing issues beyond housing segregation, such as environmental injustices and inequitable vulnerabilities to climate change, disasters, and displacement. In this contested space of white supremacy and grassroots racial-justice activism, simple solutions to “fix” the land use system, such as abolishing single-family zoning, won’t be adequate. This history suggests that racial justice will require a broad range of community-centered changes to land-use governance systems.

ABOUT THE GIFFORD LECTURE SERIES

The Gifford Foundation established a Distinguished Lectureship in Real Property in 2002 to honor Professor Emeritus David L. Callies, the Benjamin A. Kudo Professor of Law, and Jerry M. Hiatt ’77, prominent Hawai‘i attorney, for their superior work in the field of real property.

The Gifford Foundation is a charitable organization established by Jack Gifford before his passing. Mr. Gifford was the former Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., and is considered to be one of the founding fathers of the analog industry.

Carlsmith Ball LLP has graciously sponsored the Gifford lecture since 2013. Carlsmith Ball is Hawaiʻi’s oldest law firm and was founded by David H. Hitchcock in 1857 in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. Today, Carlsmith Ball LLP has locations in Honolulu, Hilo, Kona, and Maui. The William S. Richardson School of Law acknowledges with gratitude the support of the Carlsmith Ball law firm, which has funded the Gifford Lecture for over ten years.