Alex Austin Pemberton

Alex Austin fiction Pemberton nonfiction

Fiction

Fiction

Alex Austin

In Progress Novel

Novel in Progress

Nonfiction

Nonfiction

Alex Pemberton

Narrative sensibilities illuminate archival research and quantitative analysis on real estate, regulation, and race in American cities.

Popular Articles
Published · Apr 2025 Nashville Scene · Cover Story

The Battle for Belmont-Hillsboro

In 1970, liberal neighbors organized against white flight and transformed Nashville’s inner city. Today, teardowns are selling for more than a million dollars.

Published · Feb 2025 Nashville Scene · City Limits

Affluence and Effluence in the Favored Quarter

How seeping sewage and an absence of urban services spawned spacious lots in Nashville’s white suburbs.

Published · Jan 2025 Nashville Scene · City Limits

The Ensworth School and the Intentional Neighborhood

What an archway tells us about the links between neighborhood development and school segregation.

Published · Dec 2024 Nashville Scene · City Limits

East Hill and the Accidental Neighborhood

The East Nashville neighborhood serves as a bridge between two eras of suburban growth.

Published · Oct 2024 Nashville Scene · Cover Story · Contributor

The Missing Middle

Development has become concentrated along corridors and in low-income areas.

Published · Aug 2024 Nashville Scene · City Limits

The Only Apartment Building in Belle Meade

A nearly 100-year-old complex demonstrates how the affluent suburb has maintained its exclusivity.

Published · Jul 2024 Nashville Scene · City Limits

The Last Single-Family House in the Murphy Addition

The first of Nashville’s turn-of-the-century streetcar suburbs is lost to history—but one home tells its story.

Published · Jul 2024 Nashville Scene · City Limits

The Loneliest Little House in Nashville

A humble landmark on Jo Johnston Avenue tells the story of how Nashville's Black neighborhoods have been erased and redrawn.

Published · Jun 2024 Nashville Scene · City Limits

Potemkin' Donuts

How Gallatin Avenue’s zoning requirements led to the fast-food outpost’s peculiar facade.

Research & Academic
Published · Sep 2024 Mercatus Center · Research Paper

Tennessee’s HPR Law and Its Transformation of Nashville’s Housing Market

How Tennessee’s Horizontal Property Regime law catalyzed family-sized, ownership-oriented housing in Nashville — and why it could be a model for other states. Co-authored with Charles Gardner.

Published · 2021 Journal of Urban Affairs · Peer-Reviewed

Suicide Squeeze: How Minor League Cities Chase Economic Development With Big-League Stadium Schemes

A peer-reviewed study of how Wichita lured a minor league baseball team with a downtown stadium—and the political deal-making behind it. Co-authored with Stephen Buckman.

In Progress Database & Research Platform

Every Deed in Davidson County

Building a parcel-level chain-of-title database linking 286,000 properties to trace covenants, migration, zoning succession, credit access, and demographic change across Nashville’s history.