Bio

I am an Associate Professor of Urban Planning with the University of Michigan and the Director of Rackham's Graduate Certificate in Healthy Cities. I am a scholar, mentor, and author. I study cultural geographies of activism, violence, and resilience. 

My research—part social sciences and part humanities—emphasizes the intersections of place, identity, and belonging. I teach graduate-level courses on urban theory, research design, and healthy cities. 

I am the author of four books. These books include Invisible Exile: The Travel Writing of Displacement (University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming 2025), The Radical Bookstore: Counterspace for Social Movements (Minnesota, 2021), DIY Detroit: Making Do in a City without Services (Minnesota, 2016), and The Politics of Urban Water: Changing Waterscapes in Amsterdam (University of Georgia Press, 2015). 

I hold a bachelor of architecture and a master of urban design from Carnegie Mellon University, a master of science in geography from the University of Oxford, and a doctorate in geography from the University of California, Berkeley.