University of York

Faculty Member, Sociology

Reader in Urban Studies and Criminology

About

My work is focused broadly on social problems, particularly those which are hard to trace or measure. Since my doctoral work on the displacement of households from gentrification in London I have been concerned not only with the lack of attention of such problems, but also the role of the affluent in exacerbating and being connected with them. Today my work is primarily focused on the way that crime and disorder have shaped the orientations and mobilities of the rich and middle-classes in the city; not least their consumption and fortification of domestic spaces, and their inclination to seek the domestication of public spaces outside their front doors. Similarly my work with Sarah Blandy (University of Leeds) on gated communities continues to focus not only on how and why better-off households move into these spaces, but also to challenge thinking around either the inevitability or desirability of these changes.

My intention is that these pages will provide a 'live' update of my work, through links and brief summaries of my empirical work.

* Research Interests:

-  Crime, Disorder and Urban Life

-  Elite residential development, Gentrification and Gated Communities

-  Urban poverty, neighbourhood effects and life-chances

-  Noise and sound in urban contexts

* Current projects:

-  Homicides within gated residential development in the US

-  Voluntary isolationism and disconnection from ICTs

-  Gentrification and Displacement in Melbourne and Sydney (Funder: AHURI)

-  Co-organiser - York Deviancy Conference 2011: Critical Perspectives on Crime, Deviance, Disorder and Social Harm.

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