Inquiry via Action. Action via Inquiry

 

academic SCHOLARSHIP

My scholarship is written and published for both academic and public audiences. I conduct community-based, participatory and applied research on public financing models, private investment practices and philanthropic aid programs that preserve the built environment. This work draws on various techniques and technology—including public history, GIS and data mining—to measure and map governmental and grassroots approaches to heritage vulnerability and resilience.

My mixed-methods academic scholarship has diverse sponsorship, including but not limited to:

  • TULANE UNIVERSITY (School of Architecture; Center for Public Service, Center for Community Engaged Artificial Intelligence, Center for Data Science)

  • UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS (New Orleans Foundation; Office of Research)

  • LOUISIANA BOARD OF REGENTS (ATLAS Research Program, 2022)

  • HARVARD UNIVERSITY (Dumbarton Oaks Center for Garden & Landscape Studies)

My public scholarship has garnered support from:

  • NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, Digital Discovery Grant

  • NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund

  • MELLON FOUNDATION, Humanities in Place

Employing a mixed-methods approach that includes archival research, participant-observation and spatial statistics, I undertake and advise case studies and comparative studies of:

  • public-private-philanthropic partnerships in disaster preparedness and recovery, esp. neighborhood and commercial revitalization

  • the design of community adaptation and preservation programs, e.g. legacy businesses and legacy homeowners

  • the role of historic preservation in the revitalization of disinvested neighborhoods and commercial corridors, including communities of color

  • the right to historic preservation in special hazard areas, specifically the effect of preservation regulations and review processes that control the elevation, appearance, condition or use of the built environment

  • the regulation of hazards mitigation in historic districts and heritage areas

  • the privatization of public asset preservation, including but not limited to the roles and responsibilities of “friends groups” for industrial heritage and infrastructural resources

  • community and corporate philanthropy in preservation planning, policy, and practice

  • the agency of preservation trusts and advocates in urban design and development

  • public-private partnership in historic and cultural preservation 

Some of my scholarship can be “followed” on Google Scholar and Academia.edu as well.

For the up-to-date lists and links to publications, past and forthcoming: