My doctoral research focused on the spaces that queer and transgender people have historically inhabited in the United States, what they reveal for cultural representations of gender, race, and sexuality, and what lessons they hold for designers and planners. 

My dissertation, From Queer Spaces to Insurgent Citizenship, probed into the histories of a number of queer and transgender spaces in San Francisco and Oakland, which demonstrate that the bifurcation of these spaces into assimilationist and separatist in much of the existing literature does not capture their complexity. I argue that particular demands were articulated as citizenship rights on the basis of both sexuality and urbanity. These demands changed over time, and with regard to the particular characteristics of each space. The genealogy of queer and trans struggles for space and citizenship in the Bay Area recovers old tools that can assist current fights. More broadly, in my dissertation and published work I employ the concept of “queer urbanism” to contextualize insurgent spatial practices and discourses in effective coalitional politics. I argue that for this to be possible, urban theory and spatial practice have to account for non-binary conceptualizations of space beyond the public/private, male/female, grassroots/institutional dichotomies.

Before my doctoral studies I obtained a Master of Architecture from UC Berkeley and worked as a designer in the Bay Area in the field of housing and education. Besides my professional and scholarly work I have developed solo and group experimantal performances.