Research Projects

Forthcoming research publications, and projects that are submission-ready, include:

With two co-authors from Harvard University Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Katharina Liesenberg and Michael Lucas, a paper about the democratic content of problem-solving inherent to informal, everyday practices of minoritized communities globally.
With Counterpath Press, a monograph focused on Columbia University's Manhattanville campus expansion and personal reflections on course pedagogy and urban planning education at Columbia as it relates to the project.
A preliminary analysis of the urban transport, land-use, and neighborhood planning nexus in Denver, Colorado's East Area, drawing on interviews with city officials and planners, and based on participant observation.
An article drawing on the context of Mahikeng, South Africa to consider sustainable and resilient futures for Small and Medium Cities (SMCs) globally.
With the Washington, D.C.-based Eno Center for Transportation, two short essays on U.S. Presidents' transportation policies.
A book project with Counterpath and :np press on Columbia University's Manhattanville campus expansion project, and its implications for planning theory and planning law.

Early-stage or ongoing research projects include:

A project historicizing and considering the normative content of land-use and local-government laws and legal regimes in the United States
In collaboration with local researchers in Mahikeng, North-West, South Africa, and faculty at North-West University (NWU), a critical historical symposium into the life and legacy of Lucas Mangope, the former President of the Bophuthatswana Bantustan;
Continued engagement around the synchronization and alignment of different institutions and actors in neighborhood planning and development in Denver, Colorado, with a focus on the East Area, DO-8 Urban Design Overlay Rezoning, and East Colfax BRT plans.
An examination of “special districts” in Colorado in comparison with municipal governments, drawing on theoretical and empirical methods;
With Prof. Elliott Sclar, an archival investigation of the 1948 Nairobi capital plan, crafted by British and South African planners and a window into a world-historical moment and subjectivity;
An engagement with the photography of South African photographer Mikhael Subotzky and his work on securitization in Johannesburg;
With the Bloomberg Center for Cities' Quinton Mayne and Fernando Fernandez-Monge Cortazar, a research project critically framing and understanding the ecosystem of public-sector innovation (PSI) globally, attending to definitions and approaches to innovation, administrative regime type, and leadership characteristics of 'innovators.'
An early-stage theoretical and empirical foray into Colorado neighborhood, municipal, and regional plans and planning processes, and how residents successfully engage and shape these plans at various scales.