https://www.arielhbierbaum.com/home daily 1.0 2025-11-12 https://www.arielhbierbaum.com/publications daily 0.75 2025-11-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/55844980-fd87-457f-987c-ca758dfe08d9/Book+cover+image.jpg Publications - Schools for Sale: Disinvestment, Dispossession, and School Building Reuse in Philadelphia Available for pre-order now! Julia McWilliams, Ariel H. Bierbaum, Amy J. Bach and Elaine Simon School districts across the United States have closed thousands of schools since 2000 to cope with chronic underfunding and budget crises, declining enrollment, and poorly maintained buildings. Our knowledge about school closures has focused on battles over closure decision-making and the impacts of closing schools on communities of color in the immediate aftermath of these decisions. But what of the large, sometimes magisterial, formerly public spaces once at the center of community life? How do these now vacant buildings change daily life in the surrounding neighborhood? In Schools for Sale, Julia McWilliams, Ariel H. Bierbaum, Amy J. Bach, and Elaine Simon examine how school closures change the spatial and social arrangements of neighborhoods. Following a series of school closures in Philadelphia, the authors draw from research in urban studies, education, planning, and geography to explain how race, place, and capital merge to influence the trajectory of closed schools in Black and Brown communities and their surrounding neighborhoods. Some closed schools are repurposed as charter schools, upending the role those buildings have historically played in bringing communities together. Other buildings are sold for commercial development, caught up in cycles of gentrification even as developers foster programs to support community members. Others are left vacant or are demolished in the heart of their neighborhoods, decisions that reflect not only disinvestment in Black communities but the sobering reality of environmental racism. Drawing needed attention to one of the significant consequences of school closures, Schools for Sale imparts a deeper understanding of the connections between place, race, and education amid broader urban transformations, prompting us to consider how school districts can work toward a new vision for public education and community development. https://www.arielhbierbaum.com/about daily 0.75 2025-11-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/1530057001488-PE9B02EWK48S2IZJDBMT/ahb-apr16-casual-1.jpg About - About me... I am an associate professor of urban studies and planning at the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, and affiliate faculty of the National Center for Smart Growth and the Maryland Transportation Institute at UMD. My cross-disciplinary research connects the fields of urban studies, planning, and public education. I ask questions about how public schools and planning at the neighborhood, city, and regional levels interact and contribute to the perpetuation of inequality. I also identify potential pathways for these systems to promote justice for historically marginalized and minoritized communities. I use qualitative methods and draw from interdisciplinary scholarship in planning, community development, policy studies, and geography to consider how the physical dimensions of schools and neighborhoods and cross-sector collaborative governance shape structures of metropolitan and inequality and, by extension, students’ and families’ lived experiences. My co-authored book Schools for Sale: Disinvestment, Dispossession, and School Building Reuse in Philadelphia is available for pre-order and out in June 2026. My research also has appeared in the Planning Theory and Practice journal, Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Urban Affairs, Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Community Development, Urban Education, education policy analysis archives, and the Transportation Research Record. The National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, the University of Maryland Division of Research, the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, and Enterprise Community Partners have sponsored my research. I bring over 20 years of experience in the non-profit and public sectors, working in public policy, cross-sector collaboration, community development, and community arts. Prior to joining the University of Maryland faculty, I served as the Program Director and Senior Researcher at the UC-Berkeley Center for Cities and Schools, a policy research and technical assistance center that promotes high-quality education as an essential component of creating equitable, healthy, and sustainable communities. I am a member of the American Planning Association Public Schools and Communities Division, member of the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming board of directors, and an advisor to Active Voice Labs. I earned my PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of California-Berkeley, a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Arts in urban studies from the University of Pennsylvania. I am originally from New Jersey and grew up in Free Acres, a utopian community founded in 1910 based on the principles of Henry George. After 7 years in Philadelphia and 12 years in Oakland, CA, I now live in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. https://www.arielhbierbaum.com/teaching daily 0.75 2025-10-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/1530052463996-2ME06KDYCD7AVSKPGWD3/usf_f_h1_2c_rgb.png Teaching https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/1530054454117-XO9SUR3QVX0EY9YH4FNP/CED-DCRP.png Teaching https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/1530053996645-G5DWOZJJDDSE75M35L81/penn_fulllogo.gif Teaching https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/1530053748230-7NA6IAN9PVAK6XJJ2JVW/UMD_ARCH_Urban_P_CMYK.png Teaching https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/4535d5b7-ddd2-43e7-a367-e434547b3111/Screenshot+2023-05-30+at+3.12.18+PM.png Teaching https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/1530116100938-P1ASULR06X07P3ZL998O/DrAB-ExitTalk.jpg Teaching - Teaching https://www.arielhbierbaum.com/contact daily 0.75 2025-01-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/1531864926675-8GUUGIX0GR7LTW6DB839/ahb-apr16-1c-cropped.jpg Contact https://www.arielhbierbaum.com/research daily 0.75 2023-12-22 https://www.arielhbierbaum.com/for-students daily 0.75 2025-10-07 https://www.arielhbierbaum.com/book daily 0.75 2025-11-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59210299c534a58e9b1c82d2/25d269a9-6cf8-4c6f-b830-c4f5d3b1e815/Book+cover+image.jpg Book