Sara C. Bronin
2025 Keynote speaker
Sara C. Bronin is a nationally recognized Mexican-American architect, attorney, professor, and policymaker whose interdisciplinary work explores how law and policy can foster more equitable, sustainable, well-designed, and connected communities.
She is the author of Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World (W.W. Norton) and the founder/director of the National Zoning Atlas, a groundbreaking initiative to digitize and democratize zoning information across the United States.
Bronin is the Freda H. Alverson Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School and formerly a tenured professor at Cornell University. She has co-authored four books and two treatises, including the land use volume of the Restatement (Fourth) of Property, which will shape judicial decisions for decades. Her scholarship spans dozens of law review articles and has influenced both academic and policy circles.
Bronin has led transformative zoning reform efforts as chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission in Hartford, Connecticut, where she spearheaded a nationally recognized zoning overhaul and the city’s first climate action plan. She founded DesegregateCT, a grassroots coalition that successfully advanced major statewide zoning reforms.
From 2023-2024, Bronin served as the 12th Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation—the first person of color to hold the role. She prioritized housing, climate change, and Indigenous concerns in federal preservation policy. She also served as a Trustee of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Licensed in architecture and law, Bronin has advised governments, institutions, and law firms on complex land use and preservation matters. Her award-winning rehabilitation of a historic 1865 brownstone reflects her commitment to thoughtful design and heritage conservation.
She holds degrees from Yale Law School (J.D.), the University of Oxford (M.Sc., Rhodes Scholar), and the University of Texas (B.Architecture and B.A. in Plan II). She clerked for then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor and has received numerous honors, including the Heinz Award and an honorary degree from Trinity College.
Join Us in Roanoke
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from one of the nation’s leading voices in housing, zoning, and preservation. Sara Bronin’s keynote will challenge us to think boldly and act decisively in shaping the future of housing in Virginia and beyond.
