Joshua Akers, Ph.D.

Akers' research and writing examines the intersection of markets and policy and their material impacts on urban neighborhoods and everyday life. He is particularly interested in the transition of property markets in the wake of the financial crisis. This work can be found in Urban Geography, IJURR, and Environment and Planning A. He works directly with organizations and activists focused on housing and tenancy issues in Detroit. He developed a web mapping tool to assist communities working to slow speculation and its effects on local neighborhoods. This work may be found at propertypraxis.org. It is part of the Urban Praxis Workshop, which he directs. He is a contributing editor for Metropolitics, a journal of public scholarship.

Teaching Interests

Human Geography, Urban and Economic Geography, Social Theory, Social Construction of Data

Research Interests

Markets, State, Crisis, Cities

Ph.D., Geography, University of Toronto

B.A., American Studies, University of New Mexico