Gary Sands

Gary Sands

Academic/Professional Work Experience

• Professor Emeritus, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Wayne State University, 2009 to date
• Associate Professor, College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs, Geography and Urban Planning, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 1978 to 2009
• Adjunct Associate Professor, Urban Planning, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, 1989 to 2009
• Chair, College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs, Geography and Urban Planning, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 1996-1999
• Interim Chair, College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs, Geography and Urban Planning, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 1991, 2004-2005
• Interim Director, Urban Planning Program, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 1990, 1995-1996
• Interim Director, Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 1989
• President, Development Research Associates, Inc., Canton, Michigan, 1984 to present
• Economist, Mayor’s Committee for Community Renewal, Detroit, Michigan, 1965-71.

Education

• Ph.D. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 1974
• M.U.P., Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 1968
• B.A. (History) Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 1965

Selected publications

Books/Symposia

• Sands, Gary and Laura A. Reese. (2017) Roads to Prosperity. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
• Sands, Gary, ed. Measuring the Prosperity of Cities. Special Issue of Habitat International.  45 (2015)
• Sands, Gary and Laura A. Reese. Money for Nothing. Lanham MD:  Lexington Books (2012)
• Reese, Laura A., Pierre Filion and Gary Sands, eds. Trends in Canadian Urban Regions GeoJournal, 75: 6 (2010)
• Jelier, Richard and Gary Sands, eds. Sustaining Michigan.  East Lansing, MI:  Michigan State University Press (2009)

 

Book Chapters

• Sands, Gray, Is Detroit America’s Future City? In The Straight Detroit Jeffrey Horner, ed.  San Diego CA:Cgnella Academic Publishing. (2017).
• Sands, Gary. “Hope for Better Things: Housing Market Failure in Detroit” in Graham Potts and Rachel Isaac-Menard, Housing the Future. Faringdon UK: Libri Publishing. (2015)
• Sands, Gary, Laura Reese et al., “Inserting Bus Rapid Transit into an Existing Transportation System: the Mexico City Experience.” In A. Pratelli ed. Public Mobility Systems, Boston MA: WITpress. (2014)
• Reese, Laura and Gary Sands. “Evaluation of Economic Development Finance Tools” in S. B. White and Z. Z. Kotval, Financing Local Economic Development in the 21st Century. 2nd Edition. Armonk NY:  M. E. Sharpe, Inc. (2012)
• Reese, Laura and Gary Sands. “Trends in Local Economic Development: Management, Conflict, and Ethics” in J. Marlowe, J. Bartle, and B. Hildreth eds. Management Policies in Local Government Finance. Washington DC: ICMA Publications. (2011)
• Sands, Gary and Laura A. Reese.  “Michigan’s Industrial Tax Abatements: Pyrrhic Victories?”  in R.W. Jelier and G. Sands eds. Sustaining Michigan.  East Lansing: Michigan State University Press: 45-62 (2009).

 

Refereed Journal Articles

• Hodge, T. R. Gary Sands and Mark Skidmore. The Land Value Gradient in a (Nearly) Collapsed Urban Real Estate Market. Land Economics. Forthcoming (2017).
• Reese, Laura A., Jeanette Eckert, Gary Sands and Igor Vojnovic. It’s Safe to Come, We Have Lattes. Cities 60(2017) 367-77.
• Filion, Pierre, Anna Kramer, Gary Sands. Recentralization as an Alternative to Urban Dispersion: Transformative Planning in a Neoliberal Societal Context. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 10/2016; DOI:10.1111/1468-2427.12374
• Hodge, Timothy R., Daniel P. McMillen, Gary Sands and Mark Skidmore. “Assessment Inequity in a Declining Housing Market: The Case of Detroit” Real Estate Economics 2016; DOI:10.1111/reec.12126.
• Hodge, Timothy R., Mark Skidmore and Gary Sands. “Assessment Growth Limits and Mobility: Evidence from Home Sale Data in Detroit, Michigan” National Tax Journal 2015; 68(3):573. DOI:10.17310/ntj.2015.3.04.
• Sands, Gary. “Not dead yet: Response to William Tabb's 'If Detroit is dead, some things need to be said at the funeral' Journal of Urban Affairs 2015; 37(1). DOI:10.1111/juaf.12176.
• Saghir, Chade and Gary Sands. “What Do Planners Need to Know? When Do They Need to Know It?” International Journal of Social Science Studies. 3(2): (2015).
• Sands, Gary.  “New Economy Jobs and Economic Prosperity in Canada’s Mid-Size Urban Areas” Habitat International. 45:15-19 (2015).
• Alm, James, Timothy R. Hodge, Gary Sands and Mark Skidmore. “Detroit Property Tax Delinquency: Social Contract in Crises”. Public Finance and Management. 2014 14(3) 280-305.
• Laura A. Reese, Gary Sands, and Mark Skidmore. “Memo from Motown: is austerity here to stay?”  Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society.  7(1): 101-118 (2014).
• Sands, Gary, Laura A. Reese and Pierre Filion.  “Keeping the Doors Open” International Business Research. 7(6): 18-29. (2014).
• Sands, G. and Skidmore, M., “Making Ends Meet: Options for Property Tax Reform In Detroit” Journal of Urban Affairs. 36(4): 682-700 (2014).
• Sands, Gary and Laura A. Reese. “Fair Weather Friends” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society. 6(1) 73-91 (2013)
• Sands, Gary. “Prosperity and the New Economy in Canada’s Major City Regions.”  GeoJournal, 75(6) 539-51 (2010)
• Reese, Laura A., Twyla Blackmond Larnell and Gary Sands. “Patterns of Tax Abatement Policy: Lessons from the Outliers” The American Review of Public Administration. 40: 261-283 (2010)
• Sands, Gary and Pierre Filion. “Les conséquences de la crise des subprime à Détroit” [The Effects of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis on Detroit] Etudes Foncières (May-June 2009) 139: 41-46
• Reese, Laura, Jessica Faist and Gary Sands. “Measuring the Creative Class: Do We Know it When We See It?” Journal of Urban Affairs (32 August 2010): 345–366;
• Sands,Gary and Pierre Filion. “Les conséquences de la crise des subprime à Détroit” Etudes Foncières 139: 41-46, 2009.
• Reese, Laura and Gary Sands.  “Making the Least of Our Differences?  Canadian Public Administration.  50(1):79-99.

 

Selected Technical Reports

• Hodge, Timothy R., Gary Sands and Mark Skidmore. “The Land Value Gradient in a (Nearly) collapsed Urban Real Estate Market. Working Paper.  Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2015.
• Sands, Gary and Mark Skidmore. Detroit and the Property Tax. Policy Focus Report. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Cambridge MA: Lincoln Institute, 2015.
• Sands, Gary and Laura Reese. “Keeping the Doors Open: Organized Approaches to Commercial District management”. Michigan Planner. 18(2): 1-7 (March/April 2014).
• Hodge, Timothy, Mark Skidmore, Gary Sands and Daniel McMillan. ‘Tax Base Erosion and Inequity from Michigan's Assessment Growth Limit: The Case of Detroit’ CESifo Working Paper No. 4098 (January 2013).
• Sands, Gary and Laura Reese. Mexico City in the 21st Century: Population Dynamics and Policy Responses. UGEC Viewpoints, No. 8 (November), Arizona State University Global Institute of Sustainability, 2012.
• Skidmore, Mark and Gary Sands.  “Options for Restructuring Detroit’s Property Tax: Preliminary Analysis”. Working Paper.  Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2012.
• Sands, Gary and Laura A, Reese. “Public Act 198 Industrial Facilities Tax Abatements: Current Practices and Policy Recommendations” Planning and Zoning News. 29: 6-9 (May 2011)
• Reese, Laura and Gary Sands.   The Ugly Truth about Tax Abatements—and Strategies to Benefit from Them. In Focus, 43 (2) Washington, DC: ICMA Press, (2011).
• Skidmore, Mark and Gary Sands, eds. Property Tax Workshop:  Michigan Local Government in Fiscal Crises Proceedings.  East Lansing, MI:  Michigan State University Extension, (2009).

 

Selected Invited Presentations/Lectures

• Hope for Better Things. Housing – Critical Futures Conference, Liverpool, April, 2015.
• Detroit’s Rise and Fall. Keynote lecture Fundacion Colosio, Mexico City, August 1, 2014.
• Economic Development Policies in Michigan. Detroit: Metropolis in Transition, Detroit, 2013.
• Motor City Meltdown. Canadian Property Tax Association Annual Workshop, Montreal, Canada. October 2013.
• No Easy Way Out. Interrogating Urban Crises Conference. De Montfort University, Leicester England. September, 2013.
• Tax Abatements as a Form of Land Value Tax, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge MA, January 2012
• Using Tax Increment Financing for Neighborhood Revitalization, Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference, New Orleans LA, June 2012
• Real Estate Markets and Local Government Finance, El Colegio de Mexico, May 2012
• Downtowns in Mid-Size Canadian Cities (with Pierre Filion), International Making Cities Livable Conference, Charleston SC, October 2010
• Tax Abatement Policy and Local Government Fiscal Health, Michigan State University, December, 2009
• Potential for Increasing Home Ownership in Detroit, Fannie Mae, Detroit MI, August 2009
• Creative Occupations and Urban Health, MSU Global Urban Studies Lecture Series, East Lansing MI, April 2009