Urban planning and housing politics
My research within the scope of this research direction is currently heavily focused on a project which explores the planning and development of the Linköping neighbourhood of Vallastaden, an urban development project explicitly geared towards creating a path-breaking sustainable "model neighbourhood". Together with colleagues, I examine the goals and visions for the development of Vallastaden, to what extent these were accomplished, and what insights can be gleaned from the planning and development of a neighbourhood intended to accomplish a range of unusually ambitious sustainability targets. We also endeavour to shed light on how the experiences gained from the realization of this experimental project have influenced urban planning in Sweden and beyond.
I am also currently finishing research conducted with colleagues from Uppsala University on how and to what extent the renovations in recent years of rental housing constructed in the 1960s and 1.970s as part of Sweden's extensive Million Homes Program have affected tenants in these neighbourhoods.
Mobility, public transportation, and transportation justice
Another research direction of mine revolves around transportation politics, particularly public transportation.
My dissertation "An infrastructure of freedom: Atlanta, race, and the struggle over public transportation in the capitalist city" examined the struggle over how and to what extent public transportation systems should be organized to as to fulfill the distinctive potential they hold to provide urban residents access to basic mobility options. Among other things, I traced how the room of manoeuvre of transit agencies and planners was deeply shaped and informed by processes over which they wielded little or no influence, such as housing displacement and the emergence of ride-hailing services in the vein of Uber. Drawing on research on transit activism, I also sought to contribute to debates over the need to develop a broader conception of transportation justice.
