City Lab Coordinator
Glen David Kuecker serves as the Coordinator of City Lab. He founded the project in 2015, inspired by the work of DePauw University's pioneer Urban Studies students: Kartik Amarnath, Jackson Bailey, Leopoldo Burguete, Adam Folta, Grace Anne Oczon, Daniel Welsh, and Mary Xiao.
A tinny slice of Mexico City, one of Kuecker's research projects.
Kuecker received his Ph.D. in Latin American and global comparative history from Rutgers University, New Brunswick. He holds a B.A. from St. Olaf College. Glen’s original specialization is in Mexican history, and his work as a historian focuses on how the port city of Tampico made the transition from a small town to a modern city during the late 19th century. He has published essays on the place of yellow fever epidemics in Tampico’s urban development, as well as the historical memory of a catastrophic oil well fire in 1908.
Another one of Kuecker's research projects, New Songdo City, South Korea.
More recently, his scholarship focuses on how people in Latin America have organized in resistance to neoliberal economic reforms. Glen co-edited Latin American Social Movements in the Twenty-first Century: Resistance, Power, and Democracy, which won a Choice outstanding title of the year award. He has published on grassroots resistance to mining in Ecuador, and has a theoretical essay that explores today's Latin American social movements and one that considers the meanings of solidarity work.
After examining social movements, Kuecker shifted focus to the grand challenge of how we are going to weather the perfect storm of 21st century crises. This project involves research collaboration with the Globalism Research Centre at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, where they examine the relationship between community and resilience amid the global crises. He has several publications about the perfect storm. Most recently, Kuecker is exploring the place of cities within the perfect storm, which has led to a focus on understanding "eco cities," especially New Songdo City in South Korea. This work led to the formation of City Lab. Kuecker serves on the advisory boards of the Mexico Solidarity Network and Earham College’s Border Studies Program. He is founder and manager of an international human rights observation team in Ecuador, which has been active since 2006. He served a three- year term as coordinator of DePauw University’s Conflict Studies program, and a one-year coordinator position for the university’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. Ranking supreme above all, Kuecker is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan. He may be contacted at gkuecker@depauw.edu
To down load Kuecker's cv click here.