Sarah Schindler, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Maine, constructed an article in the Yale Journal by the name of “Architectural Exclusion”. This two-part article discusses how man created fixtures secretly have an impact on certain individuals in our society today. Before beginning the discussion Schindler defines the term “built environment”. She states that “built environments are characterized by man-made physical features that makes it difficult for certain individuals—often poor people and people of color—to access certain places”. Schindler then goes on to introduce the piece by giving specific examples of the effects of these environments. For example, she explains how Robert Moses a.k.a. “Master Builder of New York” built low hanging overpasses to intentionally keep buses more than likely carrying poor people, from traveling under them. In the next section of part one Schindler addresses the fact that most scholars believe behavior regulation occurs through law and only a small amount of scholars actually believe that environments can in fact regulate behavior. She’s uses scholars such as Lawrence Lessig, Richard Thaler, and Cass Sustein to support this theory. Lessig gave a specific example of architectural exclusion of how a highway can separate two neighborhoods and keep them from integrating. Thaler and Sustein believed that there is no such thing as “natural design”. Therefore, all things are man-made and therefore created to discreetly regulate.

The next topic Schindler talks about how some legal scholars have acknowledged the architectural theory to be true. For example, Lior Strahilevitz looks over “rich neighborhoods” and how they appeal certain race groups and push away others. Elise Boddie claims that places with a long history racial discrimination allows people of authority, such as police officers, who can be in that space and who can’t. She goes on to say that the law ignores these types of place and these places are always overlooked.

Part two of the article focuses on different types of architectural exclusion. The first barrier she discusses are physical barriers. For example, in areas with wealthier neighborhoods there aren’t many crosswalks or sides walks, this was done to make it quite dangerous too enter or exit these communities by foot. There are also more obvious barriers like walled ghettos. There is one by the name of the Eight Mile Wall in Michigan separating a black ghetto from a new white neighborhood. The placement of bus stops also creates this exclusion. The main idea behind this theory is that, the wealthy typically have cars and individuals riding the bus are poor. Therefore, they strategically placed the bus stops away from the wealthier communities. Lastly Schindler discusses how things that are supposedly made to keep pedestrians safe and regulate traffic actually have other unknown purposes. For example, highway and bridge exists are often used to filter traffic away from “rich communities”. Highway 188o in Oakland, California is known for practicing this. Another example of this theory is proven with one way streets. One way streets can be used to restrict access into and out of certain neighborhoods, as well as making traveling in an certain area difficult and discouraging visitors from that area