The Place of Flourishing Families

Abstract

Legal scholars have produced a rich literature exploring how law shapes cities. These scholars have examined issues such as the authority and autonomy of local governments, the nature of urban community, and the geography of metropolitan inequality. Another set of legal scholars has produced an equally rich literature exploring how law shapes families. These scholars have analyzed, for example, how marriage laws systematically disadvantage African Americans and other marginalized groups, how family law reinforces conceptions of traditional families, and how the absence of marriage equality led courts to recognize functional parents. These critical discourses have rarely overlapped—until this Colloquium. Inspired by Professor Huntington’s book Failure to Flourish: How Law Undermines Family Relationships, the Colloquium brought together scholars from multiple fields, inside and outside law, to explore the intersection of urban law and family law. This introductory essay surveys this intersection, highlighting the ways in which flourishing cities can foster flourishing families.