Projects

Possible projects
I have a long-standing interest in the theory and practice of gentrification. I am exploring the possibilities for undertaking comparative research into the history and geography of gentrification.

In the coming years, I intend to undertake a number of small research projects. Some of my theoretical and methodological interests include discourse analysis, network analysis, urban political economy and (Bourdieu’s) field analysis. Empirical interests include urban political history, drug use and drug policy, residential segregation, the emergence of a workfare state, social movements, urban mega-projects (like the Zuidas) and local politics. If you are a student who seeks supervision for research into these topics or a colleague who wants to explore possibilities for collaborative research, please get in touch.

Present projects
I work with Vincent Traag (Department of Mathematical Engineering, Université Catholique de Louvain) and Jeroen Bruggeman on a network approach to analyze the form and dynamism of political conflict. We apply our approach to a study of Dutch integration politics.

Together with Walter Nicholls, I analyze the realignment of class and ethnic politics in the United States and Europe. In our comparative research project, we attempt to identify and explain changing patterns of political mobilization in European and American cities.

I am a member of a network of researchers who are committed to the comparative study of urban marginality: urban outcasts of the world. Tom Slater of Edinburgh University initiated the network and acquired funding to organize meetings where we present research findings and deliberate collective research projects. Together with colleagues in Rotterdam, I will contribute to the conferences and publications of the network in the coming years.

Thesis-project
My PhD-thesis ‘Dynamics of power in Dutch integration politics’ mapped and explained the transformations in the debate on integration and in integration policy (supervisors: Jan Willem Duyvendak and Maarten Hajer). My MA-thesis ‘The social control of deprived neighborhoods’ compared the evolution of urban policy in Belgium and the Netherlands (supervision: Eva van Kempen). Under publications you can find references to a number of individual and collaborative research projects that I undertook alongside and in between my thesis-work.