Embedded Files
2026
2026
Forthcoming book 💡📚:
Creating Sustainable Cities through Pedestrian Urbanism (Routledge, 2026)
As cities grapple with climate change and social inequality, a growing movement recognizes walking as fundamental to urban sustainability. Creating Sustainable Cities Through Pedestrian Urbanism explores how communities worldwide are rethinking the relationship between mobility, place, and belonging.
Drawing from diverse cities across North America, Europe, and Asia, this book examines the shift from car-dominated planning toward human-centered design. It traces how walkable environments support environmental goals while fostering social connection and cultural vitality, demonstrating that sustainable cities are also more equitable and livable cities.
This book investigates varied examples: cultural programming in transit stations, night festivals and murals, pedestrian-friendly street transformations, adaptive public spaces, and community-led initiatives. It considers how everyday elements—café culture, green infrastructure, neighborhood events—contribute to places that are both environmentally responsible and socially cohesive.
Written for urban practitioners, community advocates, and engaged citizens, this book offers insights rather than prescriptions, recognizing that each place requires its own approach to pedestrian urbanism. By examining what works and what doesn't across different contexts and scales, Creating Sustainable Cities Through Pedestrian Urbanism contributes to ongoing conversations about building cities that serve both people and planet. Sustainable urban futures, it suggests, may be closer than we walk.
2025
2025
Conference Presentation: Urban Affairs Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, April 2025.
Publication: "The role of public murals in street vitality," with Yajie Hu. Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning (2025) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.106085
2024
2024
Media exposure: New York Times, "Creating an Artistic Buzz, One Real Estate Development at a Time", 09/03/2024
Award: UC Society+Culture Fellowship Award, $20,000
Grant: National Endowment for the Arts, Research Grant in the Arts, $20,000
Conference Presentation: ACSA 112 Meeting, March, Vancouver
Conference Presentation: Urban Affairs Association Meeting, April, New York
Seminar Invitation: KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology), Korea, June (Declined due to schedule conflict)
2023
2023
Invited Presentation: UC Office of Sustainability, 10/18/2023
Publication: "Local Retail Patterns and Scenes (with Terry Nichols)", Book chapter in Streetlife: The Future of Urban Retails (Edited by Emily Talen & Conrad Kickert), University of Toronto Press, 2023. https://utppublishing.com/doi/book/10.3138/9781487524814
Grant (PI): University of Cincinnati, URC Faculty Research Scholar Award, $25,000, April
Design Workshop for AIA Upjohn Grant Project: Collaboration with Hammersley Architecture, Chicago, March
Conference Presentation: Urban Affairs Association Annual Conference, April, Nashville
Conference Presentation: International Sociological Association World Congress, June, Melbourne
2022
2022
Publication: "Rebuilding Cultural Ethos in Urban Storefronts: Two Arts Districts in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas," Built Environment, 2022. https://doi.org/10.2148/benv.48.1.76
2021
2021
Grant (PI): American Institute of Architects, Upjohn Grant Initiative (matched by University of Texas at Arlington), $30,000, 2022-2023.
Grant (Collaborator): Government of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Insight Development Grant)
"The Politics of Placemaking in Chinatown", Value: $71,438; PI: Matt Patterson (University of Calgary)
Award: Dream/Unbuilt Urban Design Award, Greater Dallas Planning Council. https://gdpc.memberclicks.net/urban-design-awards
Publication: "Does café culture drive artistic enclaves?", Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 2021. DOI: 10.1080/17549175.2021.1953112
2020
2020
June
Arts, Entrepreneurs, and Innovation (AEI) Symposium, Indiana University + National Endowment for the Arts https://culturalaffairs.indiana.edu/doc/12%20Cafe%CC%81s%20as%20a%20Place%20of%20Cultural%20Innovation.pdf
May
Publication: Starchitects in Bohemia: An Exploration of Cultural Cities from the "Top-Down" and "Bottom-Up" is accepted in Urban Affairs Review
April
Conference: Urban Affairs Association meeting, D.C (cancelled due to COVID-19)
March
Funding (PI): Receive the Research Enhancement Project (REP) Grant for “Sustainable Main Streets as Catalysts for Urban Development in the Context of Urban Sprawl: Comparative Analysis of Food, Retail, & Transit Model on DFW area” ($12,860), University of Texas at Arlington
Guest lecture (03/09): Global Local Politics class at the University of Chicago (Instructor: Terry Clark)
2019
2019
September 2019
Publication: “What is the Value of 'Main Street'? Framing and Testing the Arguments”, with Emily Talen. Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, April 2019. ★ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.03.023
Aug 2019
Start a new job as an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington!
April 2019
Conference: Midwest Political Science Association Meeting (04/05/2019), Chicago. Presentation of "Cafe Scenes in Global Urban Perspective"
Conference: Urban Affairs Association Meeting (04/24/2019), Los Angeles. Presentation of "Typology of Cafe Scene"
March 2019
Conference: Urban Scene Investigation: How does cultural consumption shape middle-class life styles? (03/28/2019), University of Amsterdam (Online presentation). Presentation of "Cafe Scene and Cultural Placemaking"
Jan 2019
Publication: "Does the classic American main street still exist? An exploratory look" Journal of Urban Design. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2018.1436962 ★
2018
2018
Nov 2018
Publication: "Street rules: does zoning support main street?"Urban Design International. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057%2Fs41289-018-0076-x ★
Conference: Retail Conference (11/01/2018 - 11/02/2018), University of Chicago. Presentation of "Cafes and Coffee shops as Cultural Placemaking" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtRfB8yz7t4
Oct 2018
Grant proposal: "Englewood Art City" urban design proposal (with Hammersley Architecture) was submitted for Graham Foundation Research Grant. Fingers crossed!
Publication: "The Role of Arts and Bohemia in Sustainable Commuting and Transportation Use in Chicago, Paris, and Seoul", Journal of Urban Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2018.1516510 ★
Jul 2018
Conference: International Sociological Association meeting (07/15/2018 - 07/21/2018), Toronto, Canada. Presentation of "Starchitects in Bohemia" with Matt Patterson
Conference: "Cultural Placemaking: Comparative Perspectives" (07/17/2018), School of Cities, University of Toronto. Presentation of "Cultural Sustainability in Urban Design"
Jun 2018
Media Exposure: Chicago magazine, “Chicago Needs More Classical “Main Streets,” on June 8, 2018. http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/June-2018/Chicago-Needs-More-Classical-Main-Streets/
Media Exposure: Epeak World News, “Chicago Wants Extra Classical “Predominant Streets”| Chicago journal ⋆ Chicago local news,” on June 8, 2018. https://il.epeak.in/?p=25099
Mar 2018
Media Exposure: Sidewalk Labs, “Quantifying the death of the classic American main street,” on Mar 16, 2018. https://medium.com/sidewalk-talk/quantifying-the-death-of-the-classic-americanmain-street-ded267ea6229
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