The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) announces two new faculty appointments for the coming academic year: Nestor M. Davidson as Professor of Real Estate and Avis Devine as Associate Professor of Real Estate. Both appointments are effective July 1, 2025.
In his scholarship and teaching, Nestor M. Davidson (AB ’90) explores a set of related questions around transactional dynamics in real estate as well as regulatory frameworks for real estate markets. Those questions address topics including doctrinal and legal-structural concerns in affordable housing and fair housing, property theory and the constitutional dimensions of property law, and legal determinants of the built environment. 
He has distinguished himself in the field of urban law, exploring undertheorized constitutional and administrative aspects of urban governance, the role of law in city life, and critical fault lines in the legal relationship between states and local governments. Davidson has published widely in leading law journals, including the Columbia Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal. Among the books he has co-authored or co-edited are Law and the New Urban Agenda (2020); The New Preemption Reader (2019); The Cambridge Handbook of the Law of the Sharing Economy (2018); and Law Between Buildings: Emergent Global Perspectives on Urban Law (2017). His current book project, Cities in Law: Urbanism as a Legal Phenomenon, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. Previously, Davidson practiced commercial real estate law at Latham & Watkins LLP, working on the real estate aspects of corporate mergers and acquisitions, real estate private equity and international project finance, as well as large-scale development, land-use, and planning projects with a particular focus on affordable multifamily housing investment, syndication, development, and compliance. He twice served at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, first as special counsel and later as principal deputy general counsel. Davidson also spent six years on the Board of the New York State Housing Finance Agency and most recently chaired the New York City Rent Guidelines Board. Davidson comes to the GSD from Fordham Law School, where he was the Albert A. Walsh Professor of Real Estate, Land Use and Property Law and founded the Urban Law Center. After earning his AB from Harvard College and JD from Columbia Law School, he clerked for Judge David S. Tatel on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice David H. Souter on the US Supreme Court.
Dr. Avis Devine holds a PhD in finance from the University of Cincinnati, an MBA from Duquesne University, and a BSc from Westminster College. She comes to the GSD from York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto, where she was a tenured associate professor of real estate finance and sustainability. Prior to her academic career, Devine worked in commercial real estate finance, underwriting, and valuation. Devine’s research investigates the financial and environmental performance of sustainable investment within the commercial real estate sector.
Her work has been published in leading economics, finance, and sustainable development journals, including Energy Economics, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and Journal of Regional Science. Her scholarly contributions have been recognized with such awards as the Nick Tyrrell Research Prize in real estate investment. Devine regularly collaborates on interdisciplinary projects with scholars and industry partners, contributing to a broader understanding of how sustainable investment and climate-related risks shape financial outcomes, portfolio strategy, and the built environment. She has received multiple research grants from academic and industry organizations and is currently engaged in projects examining the efficacy of green bond use of proceeds, the relationship between institutional ownership and carbon emissions in the energy sector, and office leasing impacts of remote and hybrid work on sustainable building adoption and commuting carbon emissions. Additionally, Devine plays an active role in shaping sustainability discourse within the real estate sector and beyond. She has served on advisory boards for the International WELL Building Institute, BOMA Canada, and RealPAC, and serves on the Real Estate Research Institute board of directors. She has crafted and frequently taught in real estate executive education programs and presents on sustainable real estate investment to corporations and real estate industry audiences worldwide. Her public presence in industry and academia alike has been widely recognized, with citations in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, Commercial Property Executive, and The Financial Post.