James Connolly is Associate Director of the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability and Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Northeastern University. He earned his Ph.D. in urban planning at Columbia University where his research was supported by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. He served as a staff researcher at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) and the Spatial Information Design Lab.

Research Interests
I am primarily motivated by a question that has plagued urban development: how do we do more good than bad when planning our cities? My current research examines green gentrification and land use politics. My focus within the study of land use politics is on the dynamics of coalition building across community development and mainstream environmental coalitions. My interests also include analyzing how the institutions that shape urban environmental land use policy are structured (spatially and politically) and how they are changed. As well, I explore new applications of spatial analytic techniques for understanding urban socio-environmental processes. Recent publications include two books, Searching for the Just City and Urban Environmental Stewardship and Civic Engagement, and several journal articles including “Organizing urban ecosystem services through environmental stewardship governance in New York City” in Landscape and Urban Planning and “Networked governance and the management of ecosystem services” in Ecosystem Services.

Key Words
Urban Politics, Spatial Analysis, Urban Planning, Green Gentrification, Institutional Change