About My Research

Research Motivation

Economic development and sustainability policies are seen as opposing forces, especially in areas with slow economic growth. During the time I spent working in local economic development, I witnessed how this polarization influenced development decisions in multiple arenas. The inequities created by this process left me with questions about influence, power, and balance in policy formation, implementation, and governance. These interests are evident in my co-authored work and solo projects on topics including green housing policies, land use, energy policy, information governance, food systems, service delivery, and access equity.

Research Agenda

Solo Research - My solo research, including my dissertation, has been largely focused on local food system policies and efforts to expand urban agriculture. These policies are often touted as tools that work to achieve multiple goals, including providing income, brownfield development, heat island mitigation, storm water management, and supplying fresh food to underserved populations. In this research, I seek to identify the environmental and social dynamics which have the greatest influence on equity in local food systems choices, developing models to elucidate these choices for scholars and practitioners.

The first article coming from my dissertation research is currently under review. It reformulates the political market framework to understand potential stakeholder conflict and development challenges in municipal support for community gardens. The framework built in the paper has practical implications for use examining sustainability policy governance at the local and regional levels as well. The second article expands on the analysis by examining the policy tools, programs, and organizations shaping several aspects of local food systems. The third article, which I will be presenting at APPAM 2022, uses The Institutional Grammar to analyze policy text in an effort to understand local governments’ commitment to access equity.

My continuing research will further the work of my dissertation towards investigating the full extent of the interplay of local policies, community preferences, and equity needs at the local level. This research is well-suited to contributing to both public policy literature and use in interdisciplinary projects. I will continue collaborating with scholars and practitioners across the disciplines in pursuit of comprehensive and practical results. I will also continue to build a comprehensive, dynamic database of local government sustainability policies and programs, and urban agriculture sites to help grow our knowledge of sustainability and food systems at the local level.

Co-authored Research - My co-authored research on sustainable development and social equity has been published at Review of Policy Research. I have also contributed, as a co-author and researcher, to numerous collaborative papers on unique aspects of local and regional sustainability and resilience policy, where I have played a role in the formulation of research questions, gathering and synthesizing data, performing analysis, and providing interpretation of the results. One of my co-authored papers using machine learning to help understand local government approaches to equity, was recently presented at APSA 2021. Another, which builds propositions to further understanding of information governance, is currently under review. <a rel="me" href="https://fediscience.org/@DrKWassel">Mastodon</a>