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).