At this week’s Rose Cafe, guest speaker John Schroeder talked about city planning and the development of Cornell. It was interesting to hear about the changes that Cornell has gone through in the development of the campus and in housing, since I learned more about how historical events have influenced the current housing situation. First, we were shown a map of Cornell drawn in the 1880s, which showed a very different layout of the campus compared to the way it is now. Seeing the dramatic changes to campus over time was surprising to me and also eye opening to see how much the campus has changed from having Collegetown as the main entrance to Cornell, to the development of West Campus and North Campus.

However, there have also been negative changes that students have to face today. Specifically the housing issues that students have to face with high rent and difficulty in finding good housing options. I previously thought that the simple solution to the problem would be to build more dorms and housing options, however John Schroeder revealed that the solution is not so simple. Some of the dorms and buildings are protected to preserve their historical appearance, which has also made the housing situation more difficult for students. There is a high cost and difficulty in renovating these old buildings to stay in line with the law.

In addition, Schroeder discussed the economics behind the housing problem. In a free market scenario, the increase in housing options would indeed lower the cost of rent, however Schroeder talked about how the market is more of an oligopoly, with many of the housing properties owned by very few owners. In this situation, increasing housing options would not necessarily be able to lower the rent by an appreciable amount. 

Although the housing situation is not ideal, Schroeder discusses possible hopes and improvements for the future. Many more housing projects are underway to provide more housing to students and hopefully begin to lower the price of rent in the future. It was interesting to hear about all the considerations and interrelated reasons for why housing is a problem at Cornell. Had I not attended this event, I would not have learned about all the nuances and the complicated reasons behind a seemingly simple housing issue. It definitely gave me a new perspective on why the housing problem exists and how it can be managed in the future. It also helped me realize that many issues that may seem to have a simple solution in my mind are in reality far more complicated, with reasoning and development related to history. This event helped me to realize that looking deeper within a situation or scenario can reveal much more than I previously thought.