Xavier Briggs
Associate Professor of Sociology and Urban Planning
Room 9-521
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02139
Email: xbriggs@mit.edu
Tel: (617) 253-7956
Current Research
Effects of housing mobility and neighborhood context on low-income families and children in the U.S.; Local civic process ("democracy as problem-solving") in Brazil, India, South Africa, and the U.S.; Exposure to poor neighborhoods in the 1990s; Models and mixed-method approaches for analyzing neighborhood effects; Historical and contemporary approaches (designs) for making ethnic diversity work in changing societies; Interracial networks (bridging social capital) in America.
Note: Professor Briggs is currently on leave working as Associate Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget -- see http://dusp.mit.edu/p.lasso?t=7:1:0&detail=314#314.
Selected Publications
Briggs (2008) Democracy as Problem-Solving: Civic Capacity in Communities Across the Globe (MIT Press).
Briggs (2007) "Some of My Best Friends Are ...": Interracial Friendship, Class, and Segregation in America. City & Community 6(4).
Briggs and Turner (2006) Assisted Housing Mobility and the Success of Low-Income Families. Lessons for Policy, Practice, and Future Research. Journal of Law and Social Policy 1(1):25-61
Briggs, editor (2005) The Geography of Opportunity: Race and Housing Choice in Metropolitan America (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press).
Briggs (2004) 'Civilization in Color: The Multicultural City in Three Millennia,' City & Community 3(4):311-342. Available here
Briggs (2004) 'Traps and Stepping Stones: Neighborhood Dynamics and Family Well-being,' Harvard University - Kennedy School of Government/Social Science Research Network Working Paper Series RWP-04-13. Available here
Recent Classes
11.236 Knowledge in the Public Domain: The Uses and Abuses of Research Fall
11.943 (S05) Collaborative Problem-Solving and Diverse Communities
Recent Awards
- ACSP Paul Davidoff Book Award for The Geography of Opportunity
Additional Information
Founder and Director, The Community Problem-Solving Project @ MIT (www.community-problem-solving.net). Former acting Assistant Secretary for Policy development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton Administration (1998-1999).
• 2007-11-04 15:27:07 •
