Biography

I am an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Colorado Denver, where I have been on the faculty since 2013. My research focuses on how the interactions among public investments, development, and public policy affect human development — shaping household income, access to safe and opportunity-rich neighborhoods, housing affordability, individual health and well-being, and environmental quality. My work has examined access to public transit and active transportation, many aspects of housing, especially access to affordable housing, how the built environment affects daily lives, public-private initiatives in arts and sustainability, and how communities recover from disasters, with a particular focus on housing.

Before joining CU Denver, I spent six years at the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) in Chicago, where I co-developed the Housing and Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index and worked on equitable approaches to carsharing, energy efficiency, green building, and transit-oriented development. I also worked for Andersen Consulting as a Change Management Consultant, the City of Chicago’s Budget and Planning Departments, and the Metropolitan Planning Council.

I have served on numerous committees focused on equity in planning, including the American Planning Association’s Planning for Equity Policy Guide task force, the STAR Communities Sustainability Index’s committee on equity and affordable housing, the City of Denver’s COVID Mobility Task Force, the Auraria Campus Gentrification and Urban Displacement Task Force, and the Ball Arena Community Benefits Agreement Committee (BACBAC). I co-founded the APA’s Public Schools Interest Group, which is now an official Division of the APA, Public Schools and Communities.

I hold a PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley; a Master of Urban Planning and Public Affairs from the University of Illinois-Chicago; and a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Computer Information Systems, from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.