Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(949) 824-7695
spipkin@uci.edu
218E Social Ecology 1
Department:
Urban Planning and Public Policy
Specializations:
economic development, Latin America, U.S.-Mexico border, political economy, economic sociology, group learning, labor
Research Interests:
I am interested in how processes of economic development are carried out on-the-ground, and in particular, how groups in developing regions learn to collectively shape their economic and institutional trajectories. My current lines of research include: i) group dynamics in local economic development – in particular, how group-level habits and practices influence individual behavior in ways that shape the resource use and policy implementation processes, ii) sources that trigger “high-road” industrial upgrading in developing countries by encouraging domestic firms to change their practices and engage in institutional capacity-building, and iii) citizens’ responses to insecurity and violence in Mexico and the effects of these responses on the relations between civil society, criminal organization and the state.