I am an urban geographer with interests in the meanings and understandings of place, local politics, legal geography, qualitative methodologies, and social movements (particularly neighborhood activism). My research focuses on the United States, including past research in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and Athens, Georgia, as well as cities in Massachusetts. My work has examined place meaning and representation in community organizing and local politics, as well as in community land trust housing. My current work is based primarily in Massachusetts. I co-direct Clark’s HERO program with Geography colleague John Rogan, which engages undergraduate students in research on socio-ecological dimensions of tree planting programs. The broad areas of geography and related disciplines that I seek to address in my research include meanings of place and place-making, geography and law, and human-environment relations. I advise graduate students working on a range of topics in those areas, loosely coalescing around the themes of activism, politics, place, social theory, and qualitative research. My graduate teaching focuses on urban political theory, urban theory, and qualitative research methods. My undergraduate teaching emphasizes how geographers study cities (Geog 020 American Cities), research design (Geog 141) and history and ideals of urban planning (Geog 258/356 Utopian Visions, Urban Realities --a cross-over graduate course as well).
Degrees
Ph.D. in Geography, University of Minnesota, 1999
M.A. in Geography, University of Minnesota, 1994
B.A. in Geography and International Studies, Macalester College, 1991
Routledge Handbook of Place
Chapter: Place as human-environment network: Tree planting and Place Making in Massachusetts, USA
Published by Routledge
●
2020
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Exposure to the majority social space and residential place identity among minorities: evidence from Arabs in Israel
Urban Geography
●
2020
Ilan Shdema
,
Deborah Martin
,
Kahled Abu-Asbeh
Article in Refereed Journal
Meanings of limited equity homeownership in community land trusts
Housing Studies
●
2020
●
Vol. 35
●
Issue #3
Deborah Martin
,
Esfahani, Hadizadeh
,
Olivia Williams
,
Richard Kruger
,
Joseph Pierce
,
James DeFilippis
Article in Refereed Journal
The Production of Community in Community Land Trusts
City & Community
●
2019
Richard Kruger
,
James DeFilippis
,
Olivia Williams
,
Azadeh Esfahani
,
Deborah Martin
,
Joseph Pierce
Chapters In Books
Chapter: Contextualizing neighborhood activism: spatial solidarity in the city
Published by Edward Elgar Publishing
●
2019
Katherine Hankins
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Unbundling property in Boston’s urban food commons
Urban Geography
●
2019
●
Vol. 40
●
Issue #10
Oona Morrow
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Urban tree survival and stewardship in a state-managed planting initiative: A case study in Holyoke, Massachusetts
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening
●
2019
●
Vol. 43
Benjamin Breger
,
Theodore Eisenman
,
Madison Kremer
,
Lara Roman
,
Deborah Martin
,
John Rogan
Article in Refereed Journal
A Relational Theory of Risk: a Case Study of the Asian Longhorned Beetle Infestation in Worcester, MA
Journal of Risk Research
●
2019
Joey Hersh
,
Deborah Martin
,
Nicholas Geron
,
John Rogan
Article in Refereed Journal
On the transformative potential of community land trusts in the United States
Antipode
●
2019
●
Vol. 51
●
Issue #3
James DeFilippis
,
Olivia Williams
,
Joseph Pierce
,
Deborah Martin
,
Rich Kruger
,
Azadeh Esfahani
Papers Published - Conference Proceedings
The Impact of Tree Planting Program Governance Structure on Tree Survivorship and Vigor: A Case Study using the Massachusetts Greening the Gateway Cities Program
Proceedings of the F'abos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning
●
2019
●
Vol. 6
●
Issue #1
Nicholas Geron
,
John Rogan
,
Deborah Martin
,
Marc Healy
Article in Refereed Journal
Monitoring the impact of planted trees on land surface and air temperatures in Massachusetts Gateway Cities
Adapting to Expanding and Contracting Cities
●
2019
John Rogan
,
Benjamin Weil
,
Deborah Martin
,
Mathew Cahill
Article in Refereed Journal
Social Norms, Yard Care, and the Difference between Front and Back Yard Management: Examining the Landscape Mullets Concept on Urban Residential Lands
Society & natural resources
●
2018
●
Vol. 31
●
Issue #10
Dexter Locke
,
Chowdhury, Roy
,
J Grove
,
Deborah Martin
,
Eli Goldman
,
John Rogan
,
Peter Groffman
Article in Refereed Journal
A multi-city comparison of front and backyard differences in plant species diversity and nitrogen cycling in residential landscapes
Landscape and urban planning
●
2018
●
Vol. 178
Dexter Locke
,
Meghan Avolio
,
Tara Trammell
,
Rinku Chowdhury
,
J Grove
,
John Rogan
,
Deborah Martin
,
Neil Bettez
,
Jeannine Cavender-Bares
,
Peter Groffman
,
others
Chapters In Books
Chapter: Place-based or place-positioned? Framing and making the spaces of urban politics
Published by Routledge
●
2018
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Predictors of mortality for juvenile trees in a residential urban-to-rural cohort in Worcester, MA
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening
●
2018
●
Vol. 30
Arthur Elmes
,
John Rogan
,
Lara Roman
,
Christopher Williams
,
Samuel Ratick
,
David Nowak
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Place-framing against automobility in Montreal
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
●
2018
●
Vol. 43
●
Issue #1
Neste, Van
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
(Un) frozen Spaces: Exploring the Role of Sea Ice in the Marine Socio-legal Spaces of the Bering and Beaufort Seas
Journal of Borderlands Studies
●
2018
●
Vol. 33
●
Issue #2
Kristen Shake
,
Karen Frey
,
Deborah Martin
,
Philip Steinberg
Article in Refereed Journal
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND URBAN GREENING: THE CASE OF URBAN TREE PLANTING PROGRAMS IN MASSACHUSETTS
●
2017
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Effects of urban tree canopy loss on land surface temperature magnitude and timing
ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
●
2017
●
Vol. 128
Arthur Elmes
,
John Rogan
,
Christopher Williams
,
Samuel Ratick
,
David Nowak
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
The law is not enough: Seeking the theoretical ‘frontier of urban justice’via legal tools
Urban Studies
●
2017
●
Vol. 54
●
Issue #2
Joseph Pierce
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Worcester, Massachusetts: A History of Urban Forestry Practices.
Northeastern Geographer
●
2016
●
Vol. 8
III, Danko
,
Verna Delauer
,
Deborah Martin
,
John Rogan
Article in Refereed Journal
Everyday Utopias: The Conceptual Life of Promising Spaces by Davina Cooper
philoSOPHIA
●
2016
●
Vol. 6
●
Issue #1
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Identifying Optimal Planting Locations in Worcester, MA Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis
●
2016
Trung Truong-Nguyen
,
John Rogan
,
Deborah Martin
,
Arthur Elmes
Article in Refereed Journal
Rights in places: An analytical extension of the right to the city
Geoforum
●
2016
●
Vol. 70
Joseph Pierce
,
Olivia Williams
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
A ‘Bedford Falls’ kind of place: Neighbourhood branding and commercial revitalisation in processes of gentrification in Toronto, Ontario
Urban Studies
●
2016
●
Vol. 53
●
Issue #5
Brenna Keatinge
,
Deborah Martin
Papers Published - Conference Proceedings
Mapping Urban Tree Canopy Coverage and Structure using Data Fusion of High Resolution Satellite Imagery and Aerial Lidar
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
●
2015
A Elmes
,
J Rogan
,
C Williams
,
D Martin
,
S Ratick
,
D Nowak
Article in Refereed Journal
Training interdisciplinary “wicked problem” solvers: applying lessons from HERO in community-based research experiences for undergraduates
Journal of Geography in Higher Education
●
2015
●
Vol. 39
●
Issue #3
Alida Cantor
,
Verna DeLauer
,
Deborah Martin
,
John Rogan
Article in Refereed Journal
Placing Lefebvre
Antipode
●
2015
●
Vol. 47
●
Issue #5
Joseph Pierce
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Mapping land development through periods of economic bubble and bust in Massachusetts using Landsat time series data
GIScience & Remote Sensing
●
2015
●
Vol. 52
●
Issue #4
Sean Cunningham
,
John Rogan
,
Deborah Martin
,
Verna DeLauer
,
Stephen McCauley
,
Andrew Shatz
Article in Refereed Journal
Social well-being and environmental governance in urban neighborhoods in Boston, MA
The Geographical Journal
●
2015
●
Vol. 181
●
Issue #2
Katherine Foo
,
Deborah Martin
,
Colin Polsky
,
Clara Wool
,
Martha Ziemer
Article in Refereed Journal
Struggling with Democracy’s Differences
Dialogues in Human Geography
●
2014
●
Vol. 4
●
Issue #1
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity in Response to the Asian Longhorned Beetle Infestation in Worcester, Massachusetts
Human Ecology
●
2014
●
Vol. 42
●
Issue #6
Shannon Palmer
,
Deborah Martin
,
Verna DeLauer
,
John Rogan
Other Scholarly or Creative Work
Thinking critically about urban politics
●
2014
Sage London
Mark Davidson
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Reprint of “The production of urban vacant land: Relational placemaking in Boston, MA neighborhoods”
Cities
●
2014
●
Vol. 40
Katherine Foo
,
Deborah Martin
,
Clara Wool
,
Colin Polsky
Article in Refereed Journal
Place Frames: Analysing Practice and Production of Place in Contentious Politics
Spaces of Contention: Spatialities and Social Movements
●
2013
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Characterizing tree canopy loss using multi-source GIS data in Central Massachusetts, USA
Remote Sensing Letters
●
2013
●
Vol. 4
●
Issue #12
Andrew Hostetler
,
John Rogan
,
Deborah Martin
,
Verna DeLauer
,
Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne
Article in Refereed Journal
The impact of tree cover loss on land surface temperature: A case study of central Massachusetts using Landsat Thematic Mapper thermal data
Applied Geography
●
2013
●
Vol. 45
John Rogan
,
Martha Ziemer
,
Deborah Martin
,
Samuel Ratick
,
Nicholas Cuba
,
Verna DeLauer
Book
Urban Politics: Critical Approaches
●
2013
Sage
Mark Davidson
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
INTRODUCTION TO CITY AS MEDIUM
Urban Politics: Critical Approaches
●
2013
Mark Davidson
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
INTRODUCTION TO CITY AS COMMUNITY
Urban Politics: Critical Approaches
●
2013
Deborah Martin
,
Mark Davidson
Article in Refereed Journal
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD AS A PLACE FOR (URBAN) POLITICS1
Urban Politics: Critical Approaches
●
2013
Katherine Hankins
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
URBAN POLITICS AS PARALLAX
Urban Politics: Critical Approaches
●
2013
Deborah Martin
,
Mark Davidson
Article in Refereed Journal
The production of urban vacant land: Relational placemaking in Boston, MA neighborhoods
Cities
●
2013
●
Vol. 35
Katherine Foo
,
Deborah Martin
,
Clara Wool
,
Colin Polsky
Article in Refereed Journal
Up Against the Law: Legal Structuring of Political Opportunities in Neighborhood Opposition to Group Home Siting in Massachusetts
Urban Geography
●
2013
●
Vol. 34
●
Issue #4
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Reconceptualizing resistance: Residuals of the state and democratic radical pluralism
Antipode
●
2013
●
Vol. 45
●
Issue #1
Deborah Martin
,
Joseph Pierce
Article in Refereed Journal
Beyond “Lawn People”: The role of emotions in suburban yard management practices
The Professional Geographer
●
2013
●
Vol. 65
●
Issue #2
Edmund Harris
,
Deborah Martin
,
Colin Polsky
,
Lillian Denhardt
,
Abigail Nehring
Article in Refereed Journal
Police, Urban Space, Politics, and Responsibility
Urban Geography
●
2012
●
Vol. 33
●
Issue #7
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Urban Politics and Mental Health: An Agenda for Health Geographic Research
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
●
2012
●
Vol. 102
●
Issue #5
Joseph Pierce
,
Deborah Martin
,
Alexander Scherr
,
Amelia Greiner
Article in Refereed Journal
Subjectivity, Power, and the IRB
The Professional Geographer
●
2012
●
Vol. 64
●
Issue #1
Deborah Martin
,
Joshua Inwood
Article in Refereed Journal
Heterogeneity in residential yard care: Evidence from Boston, Miami, and Phoenix
Human Ecology
●
2012
●
Vol. 40
●
Issue #5
Edmund Harris
,
Colin Polsky
,
Kelli Larson
,
Rebecca Garvoille
,
Deborah Martin
,
Jaleila Brumand
,
Laura Ogden
Article in Refereed Journal
Regional Urbanization, Spatial Justice, and Place
Urban Geography
●
2011
●
Vol. 32
●
Issue #4
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Urban politics: an interdisciplinary dialogue
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
●
2011
●
Vol. 35
●
Issue #4
Kevin Ward
,
David Imbroscio
,
Deborah Martin
,
Clarence Stone
,
Robert Whelan
,
Faranak Miraftab
,
Allan Cochrane
Article in Refereed Journal
Relational place-making: the networked politics of place
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
●
2011
●
Vol. 36
●
Issue #1
Joseph Pierce
,
Deborah Martin
,
James Murphy
Article in Refereed Journal
Making Law, Making Place: Lawyers and the Production of Space
●
2010
Alex Scherr
,
Deborah Martin
,
Christopher City
Chapters In Books
Chapter: Reflections on teaching qualitative methods in geography
Published by SAGE Publications Ltd
●
2010
D Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Transnational tense: Immigration and inequality in American housing markets
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
●
2010
●
Vol. 36
●
Issue #2
Elvin Wyly
,
Deborah Martin
,
Pablo Mendez
,
Steven Holloway
Article in Refereed Journal
Making law, making place: lawyers and the production of space
Progress in Human Geography
●
2010
●
Vol. 34
●
Issue #2
Deborah Martin
,
Alexander Scherr
,
Christopher City
Article in Refereed Journal
Mobilising bodies: Visceral identification in the Slow Food movement
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
●
2010
●
Vol. 35
●
Issue #2
Allison Hayes-Conroy
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Whitewash: White privilege and racialized landscapes at the University of Georgia
Social & Cultural Geography
●
2008
●
Vol. 9
●
Issue #4
Joshua Inwood
,
Deborah Martin
Other Scholarly or Creative Work
Citizens, cops and power: Recognizing the limits of community
Community, neighborhood, and political possibility
Political Geography
●
2007
●
Vol. 26
●
Issue #2
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Bureacratizing ethics: Institutional review boards and participatory research
ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies
●
2007
●
Vol. 6
●
Issue #3
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
What counts as activism?: The role of individuals in creating change
Women's Studies Quarterly
●
2007
●
Vol. 35
●
Issue #3/4
Deborah Martin
,
Susan Hanson
,
Danielle Fontaine
Article in Refereed Journal
Review: Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles, Manufacturing Culture: The Institutional Geography of Industrial Practice, Unequal City: London in the Global Arena, Egalitarian Capitalism: Jobs, Incomes and Growth in Affluent Countries, Life Events and the Housing Career: A Retrospective Analysis of Timed Effects, the Green City: Sustainable Homes, Sustainable Suburbs, Dropping Anchor, Setting Sail: Geographies of Race in Black Liverpool
Environment and Planning A
●
2006
●
Vol. 38
●
Issue #5
Deborah Martin
,
Christian Berndt
,
Naomi Pope
,
Ben Derudder
,
Robert Murdie
,
Susan Moore
,
Tim Bunnell
Article in Refereed Journal
New State Spaces: Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood. By Neil Brenner
Economic Geography
●
2006
●
Vol. 82
●
Issue #1
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Book Review: Empowering squatter citizen: local government, civil society and urban poverty reduction
Progress in Human Geography
●
2006
●
Vol. 30
●
Issue #5
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Charter schools and urban regimes in neoliberal context: Making workers and new spaces in metropolitan Atlanta
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
●
2006
●
Vol. 30
●
Issue #3
Katherine Hankins
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Rescaling Autonomy? Reflections on Unmaking Goliath
Urban Geography
●
2005
●
Vol. 26
●
Issue #4
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Lawyering landscapes: lawyers as constituents of landscape
Landscape Research
●
2005
●
Vol. 30
●
Issue #3
Deborah Martin
,
Alexander Scherr
Article in Refereed Journal
Organizing diversity: scales of demographic change and neighborhood organizing in St Paul, MN
Environment and Planning A
●
2005
●
Vol. 37
●
Issue #6
Deborah Martin
,
Steven Holloway
Article in Refereed Journal
Reconstructing Urban Politics Neighborhood Activism in Land-Use Change
Urban Affairs Review
●
2004
●
Vol. 39
●
Issue #5
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Nonprofit foundations and grassroots organizing: reshaping urban governance
The Professional Geographer
●
2004
●
Vol. 56
●
Issue #3
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Observing Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia: Using an urban field study to enhance student experiences and instructor knowledge in urban geography
Journal of Geography
●
2003
●
Vol. 102
●
Issue #1
Deborah Martin
Book
Space, place, and contentious politics
●
2003
Department of Sociology, San Diego State University
Byron Miller
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Space, scale, governance, and representation: contemporary geographical perspectives on urban politics and policy
Journal of Urban Affairs
●
2003
●
Vol. 25
●
Issue #2
Deborah Martin
,
Eugene McCann
,
Mark Purcell
Article in Refereed Journal
Enacting Neighborhood 1
Urban Geography
●
2003
●
Vol. 24
●
Issue #5
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Space and contentious politics
Mobilization: An International Quarterly
●
2003
●
Vol. 8
●
Issue #2
Deborah Martin
,
Byron Miller
Article in Refereed Journal
“Place-Framing” as Place-Making: Constituting a Neighborhood for Organizing and Activism
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
●
2003
●
Vol. 93
●
Issue #3
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Constructing the ‘Neighborhood Sphere’: gender and community organizing [1]
Gender, Place & Culture
●
2002
●
Vol. 9
●
Issue #4
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
on Michael P. Brown RePlacing Citizenship: AIDS Activism and Radical Democracy
ETHICS PLACE AND ENVIRONMENT
●
2000
●
Vol. 3
D Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Missing Geography: Social Movements on the Head of a Pin?
Geography and Social Movements
●
2000
Byron Miller
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Constructing place: Cultural hegemonies and media images of an inner-city neighborhood
Urban Geography
●
2000
●
Vol. 21
●
Issue #5
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
“Placing” interviews: location and scales of power in qualitative research
The Professional Geographer
●
2000
●
Vol. 52
●
Issue #4
Sarah Elwood
,
Deborah Martin
Other Scholarly or Creative Work
Claiming place and community: place identity and place-based organizing in inner-city neighborhoods
●
1999
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
Transcending the fixity of jurisdictional scale
Political Geography
●
1999
●
Vol. 18
●
Issue #1
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
A richly textured culture of gay male life flourished in thetextregistered rst third of the twentieth century in New York City, but the history of this world has been lostDHlargely forgotten and actively
Gender, Place and Culture
●
1996
●
Vol. 3
●
Issue #1
Sarah Elwood
,
Larry Knopp
,
Jerry Kramer
,
Helga Leitner
,
Fredric Markus
,
Deborah Martin
,
Roger Miller
,
Eric Sheppard
,
John Tichy
,
Drasek, Van
,
others
Other Scholarly or Creative Work
Community organizing and the state: The neighborhood revitalization Program (NRP) of Minneapolis, MN
●
1994
Deborah Martin
Chapters In Books
Handbook of Urban Geography
Chapter: Neighborhood activism: Spatial solidarity in the city
Published by Edward Elgar
●
Katherine Hankins
,
Deborah Martin
Article in Refereed Journal
URBAN POLITICS
Deborah Martin
Awards & Grants
Place-Making Practices and Imaginaries: Exploring Meanings of Place in Policy and Planning in Aberdeen, Scotland
Whiting Foundation
Aug. 1, 2024 - Sep. 30, 2025
Assessing the Survivorship, Condition and Growth of Trees Planted 2010-2014 in Worcester, Massachusetts
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation & Recreation
Jul. 1, 2023 - Dec. 31, 2024
Planting Trees for Improved Community Health in Two Small Low-Income Cities in Massachusetts
US Department of Agriculture
Sep. 17, 2019 - Sep. 18, 2022
Doctoral Dissertation Research: Governing Sustainability through Place-making: Ecodistricts in the Pittsburgh Metro Region