Taesoo Song

I am an Assistant Professor in Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning at Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs.

My research examines how housing supply transformations shape urban inequality.

I pursue this research through three connected areas:

  1. Housing supplyHow do policies shape housing supply—including new construction, redevelopment, and preservation of the existing affordable stock—and with what consequences for affordability and access to opportunity?
  2. Race / immigrationHow do race and immigration structure housing outcomes, particularly for Asian Americans?
  3. Data infrastructureHow can different data sources be validated and used to study housing dynamics?

My work appears in the Journal of the American Planning Association, Urban Studies, Housing Policy Debate, Cityscape, and the Journal of Urban Affairs. My research has been supported by the Russell Sage Foundation and other funders.

I earned my Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. Previously, I worked with the Terner Center for Housing Innovation, UC Berkeley D-Lab, Urban Displacement Project, and Seoul Institute.

Recent work

All publications

News

Sep 2026 New policy brief, Foreign Buyer Taxes and the Rental Affordability Gap, published by the School of Cities at the University of Toronto.
Aug 2026 New book review in Journal of Urban Affairs, on Lauren E. M. Everett’s Fortunate People in a Fortunate Land: At Home in Santa Monica’s Rent-Controlled Housing.
May 2026 I completed my Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. I’ll be joining Virginia Tech’s Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning program (Arlington campus) as an Assistant Professor this fall!
Apr 2026 New article on upzoning and residential mobility published in Housing Policy Debate with Jenna Davis and Karen Chapple.
Feb 2026 New article on naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH) and residential mobility published in Journal of the American Planning Association with Carolina Reid.