I am a broadly trained engineer with degrees from the University of Toronto (B.A.Sc.) and the Technical University of Denmark (M.Sc. & PhD.) The primary focus of my research has been on urban sustainability, both within the city and beyond its boundaries. I have applied life cycle assessment at the urban scale to answer questions of how the modern economy teleconnects urban consumers to environmental change at locations across the planet. I have investigated the efficacy of urban design interventions to reduce this environmental loading, with an emphasis on local food production. My more recent work focuses on the supply chains that act as the architecture supporting contemporary urban lifestyles. Alongside Assoc. Prof. Joshua Newell at the University of Michigan, I have developed a methodological framework to track corporate actors across space and time. This method provides penetrating insights into the inner-workings of supply chains by revealing where they operate, the companies involved in them, and the parties responsible for environmental and social 'hotspots' along the supply chain.
Research Interests
My work focuses on the following: urban sustainability, supply chains, business sustainability, political-industrial ecology, urban metabolism, life cycle assessment, food systems