I am a socio-legal scholar whose research focuses on ways to make cities more livable, productive, and democratic.  I compare policy reform projects over time, by combining historical and ethnographic methods. Right now I have a few projects underway. My first book, Cultivating the City: The Long Struggle to Put Land to Use, uses urban agriculture in Chicago since the 1890s to explain how and why urban reformers have repeatedly sought to address poverty and unemployment by redistributing use but not ownership of idle property. It’s forthcoming from University of Chicago Press, and should be out in Spring 2027.

My next major project examines urban climate resilience policy projects in comparison with other historical moments when new scientific concepts of what cities are have reshaped notions of how they can and should be governed. I also write on efforts to dramatically reform election law, including through compulsory voting and electoral fusion.

I work at Temple University, where I am an Assistant Professor in the Beasley School of Law and a Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Sociology. Before coming to Temple I was at University of Cincinnati’s School of Public and International Affairs and College of Law, as Assistant Professor of Political Science and Law.

Here you can learn about the book, as well as my other research projects and publications.

You can download my CV here.