Dr. Willow Lung-Amam gives 2025 Bill Gray Lecture

Dr. Willow Lung-Amam was chosen as the speaker for the 2025 Bill Gray Speaker Series at Portland State University. On May 29, she gave a presentation about her book, The Right to Suburbia: Combating Gentrification on the Urban Edge, and the research that went into it. The book details the history and effects of gentrification in Washington, DC suburbs.

“I want to write about places I care about,” Dr. Lung-Amam, an Associate Professor in the Urban Studies and Planning Program at the University of Maryland, College Park, explained in her presentation.

In her book, she highlights three neighborhoods in particular: Silver Spring, Wheaton, and the International Corridor. Through qualitative interviews of over seventy businesses, residents, political representatives, and more, she explains the why and how these suburbs have been affected by gentrification. The book concludes with Dr. Lung-Amam encouraging readers to rethink gentrification by contesting new suburban renewal, thinking about why place matters, and exploring new possibilities for avoiding displacement.

Dr. Lung-Amam’s research for the book inspired her to start the Small Business Anti-Displacement Network. She is also the Director of the Urban Equity Collaborative and the Director of Community Development at the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education.

The annual Bill Gray Speaker Series is generously sponsored by Dr. Bill Gray, who obtained his PhD at PSU in 1984 and later became the first Chancellor of Washington State. Speakers are nominated by TSUSP faculty every year, with a concerted effort made to invite scholars from underrepresented groups who do inspiring work.

Photo: Dr. Willow Lung-Amam presents her book at the 2025 Gray Lecture.