Education

2024    Graduate Certificate, Urban Humanities, UCLA

2022    M.S. Geography, Minor in Applied Anthropology, The University of North Texas

2020    B.S. Geography, Minor in Anthropology, summa cum laude, The University of North Texas

Research

I investigate the intersection of urban marginalization and urban governance. My ongoing research concerns public housing redevelopment in L.A.

Areas of interest:

Urban geography;
Planning theory;
Capitalist urban development;
Neoliberal urban governance;
Gentrification;
Urban marginality;
Affordable housing;
Multiculturalism

Selected Publications

Ferrer, A., & Kirk, R. (Accepted, in press). Urbicidal economics and the racial geographies of triage. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

Kirk, R. (2024). Neoliberal necropolitics and the global competition for urban dominance. Geoforum, 155, 104107. DOI:10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104107

Kirk, R., & Behm Josa, D. (2024). Contesting elite capture: Repositioning insurgent planning for mass movements. Human Geography, 16(3), 347–352. DOI: 10.1177/19427786241263635

Kirk, R. (2024). Legitimising displacement: Academic discourse, territorial stigmatisation and gentrification. Urban Studies, 61(13), 2492–2512. DOI: 10.1177/00420980241235015

Kirk, R. (2024). What Los Angeles tells us about Dracula urbanism. Urban Geography, 45(4), 652–670. DOI: 10.1080/02723638.2023.2226551

Kirk, R. (2023). Changing urban fabrics: Thinking through the lopsided city. Dialogues in Urban Research, 3(1), 288–292. DOI: 10.1177/27541258231204007

Kirk, R. (2023). Neoliberal multiculturalism in Dallas: The discursive foundations of diversity-led gentrification in an aspiring U.S. global city. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 55(6), 1392–1407. DOI: 10.1177/0308518X231152258

Kirk, R. (2023). Lifestyle centers, the next boom and bust after shopping malls? Governance, public-private partnerships, and Guy Debord’s spectacle in Dallas-Fort Worth. Cities, 133, 104155. DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2022.104155

Kirk, R. (2021). The anti-capitalist chronicles by David Harvey. Human Geography, 14(1), 151–153. DOI: 10.1177/1942778620979313

Grants & Awards

Summer Mentored Research Fellowship (scheduled, 2025) — UCLA

2023 Institute of Human Geography Research Grant — Institute of Human Geography

Voertman-Ardoin Graduate Fellowship 2020–2022 — The University of North Texas

2020 F. Andrew Schoolmaster Award to Outstanding Undergraduate Student — The University of North Texas

Advisors

John Agnew, Distinguished Professor of Geography (Committee Chair)

Kelly Kay, Associate Professor of Geography

Juan Herrera, Associate Professor of Geography

José Loya, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning