Professor of Human Geography at the University of Hull, his work is concerned with the development of cities and regions of the United States and Europe and the transition to a low-carbon economy. He has taught in a number of universities in Europe, Australia and the United States and is a member of the editorial boards of The Social Science Quarterly, Geography Compass and Plurimondi. He works as an advisor to governmental bodies, for example the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the US National Science Foundation. He has recently co-edited Interrogating Alterity: Alternative Economic and Political Spaces (Ashgate, 2010).