Research Projects

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

With two co-authors from Harvard University's Bloomberg Center for Cities, Quinton Mayne and Fernando Fernandez-Monge Cortazar, a research project critically framing and understanding the ecosystem of Local Systems of Public-Sector innovation (LSPSI) globally, attending to key dimensions and variables explaining local PSI systems and measuring varied definitions and approaches to innovation, administrative regime types, and leadership characteristics.
A comprehensive, social-constructivist 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.
A research project working with University of Denver student Research Assistants (RAs) to analyze results from a housing simulator model sponsored by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley. Our research team will model and analyze a wide array of possibly future public policies with a focus on these policies' impacts on housing production. The project will also critically consider the role of modeling technologies.

Early-stage or ongoing research projects include:

A long-term project considering housing policy in the Denver and Colorado contexts, with an emphasis on "missing middle" housing for middle-income Coloradans and policy reforms for "gentle density," or contextually suited increases in density.
With Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) policy practitioner Victor Chen, 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 colleagues at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center, an examination of ethics, deliberation, and patient decision-making processes for organ transplantation, examining the results qualitative survey data and a day-long facilitated deliberation sessions with patients and healthcare providers.
With Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) policy practitioner Victor Chen, an early-stage theoretical and empirical foray into Colorado regions' efforts at progressive Local Economic Development in the face of deindustrialization, demographic decline, and a politics of neglect.