In this project funded by the National Science Foundation, I'm studying regulation, code enforcement, and housing informality across the US. 

In this project funded by the National Science Foundation, I'm using building footprints to examine neighborhood morphology, the impact of land use regulation, patterns of residential segregation, and urban informality. 

In this project funded by the National Science Foundation, I'm studying equitable access to Electric Vehicle Charging Stations. 

This paper, co-authored with four students, received honorable mention by the Journal of Urban Affairs.

Across the country, millions of residents live in housing that is non-compliant with or is denied the protection of rules and regulations that the rest of us take for granted. 

Informal housing is what I have called the de facto affordable housing solution in this country. In the absence of adequate federal investment in affordable housing, informal housing is one of the few affordable housing options available to millions of families. 

Many residents in informal housing are disproportionately exposed to contaminated water and other forms of socio-spatial inequality and environmental risks.

Approximately 1 in 10 new single-family homes across the country are built via self-help (i.e., by the homeowner rather than by a developer or contractor). In rural areas, self-help is used to build 1 in 3 new single-family homes. 

Self-help often takes decades to complete. Many self-help homeowners build the home incrementally over time, financing improvements using cash rather than via a mortgage. Families sometimes live in unfinished and unsafe homes for long periods of time. 

Cities that give residents direct control over annexation decisions (e.g., at the ballot box) are less likely to annex black neighborhoods, while those whose annexation decisions are subject to third-party oversight (e.g., by independent boundary commissions) are more likely to annex black neighborhoods.  

After the Supreme Court invalidated the Voting Rights Act in 2013, cities across the south began to systematically exclude black neighborhoods. 

Land use regulations --  like low-density zoning and strict parking requirements -- exacerbate spatial mismatches between housing and employment.

The MSM Tool lets you visualize spatial mismatches in housing and employment in the state of Michigan.