2026 Theses Master's

Vacancy and the Spatial Production of Exclusion in St. Louis, Missouri

Seibold, Lucas

St. Louis contains some of the highest rates of urban vacancy in the United States, with concentrated abandonment shaping large portions of the city’s physical and social landscape. This thesis examines vacancy as a product of racialized disinvestment and the spatial production of exclusion. Focusing on the City of St. Louis, Missouri, this research asks how patterns of vacancy have become geographically concentrated, what historical and political forces have contributed to these patterns, and how vacancy continues to reinforce uneven development across neighborhoods. Existing research has connected urban decline in St. Louis to segregation, suburbanization, redlining, and deindustrialization, yet vacancy itself is often treated as a secondary symptom rather than a central mechanism through which exclusion is reproduced spatially. This thesis builds on existing literature by positioning vacancy as both a material and a political condition, tied to long histories of uneven investment and governance decisions.

Using a mixed-methods approach that combines spatial analysis, statistical modeling, and qualitative contextualization, this research examines relationships among vacancy, race, poverty, historic redlining, and absentee ownership at the census tract level. The findings reveal strong geographic clustering of vacancy and demonstrate that racialized inequality remains deeply tied to contemporary patterns of abandonment. Historical redlining and concentrated poverty continue to shape where vacancy persists, while qualitative narratives reveal how residents experience these landscapes as spaces of neglect, invisibility, and exclusion. Ultimately, this thesis argues that vacancy in St. Louis is not simply evidence of decline, but the spatial outcome of decades of policy decisions and uneven urban development. By reframing vacancy as a form of spatial exclusion, this research contributes to broader planning discussions surrounding equity, reinvestment, and the long-term consequences of racialized disinvestment in American cities.