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Damon Scott

Damon Scott's work focuses on the influence of race, gender, and sexuality on urban planning and the ways different places can reinforce specific notions of self and community. His work is informed by current trends in urban studies, queer studies, and geography that look critically at the concepts of place and space.

Teaching

Rooted in a liberal arts commitment to improving cultural and geographic literacy and to deepening student awareness of the social and cultural contexts in which they live, Dr. Scott trains students to think critically—and constructively—about overcoming the history of social and economic inequality in urban America.

His teaching centers on how intersecting forms of social difference—like race, gender, sexuality, class, and ability—are imbricated in everyday spatial practices, place-bound norms of behavior, and the geographic unevenness of access to resources. To that end, he regularly teaches an upper-division American Studies (AMS) course in which students research, write and produce historical documentaries on the impact of a large-scale urban redevelopment project on the social geography of a specific American city.

In addition, Scott has taught three thematically-distinct urban field courses: global cities and immigrant communities (Chicago); contemporary urban planning debates (Chicago); and urbanism and social activism (San Francisco).

As an Alumni Teaching Scholar, Dr. Scott recently completed a year-long instructional enhancement project on place-based approaches to teaching and learning.

Research

Damon Scott's scholarship focuses on the intersections of gender, sexuality and urban planning in post-war America. His work is informed by current trends in urban studies, queer studies, and geography and has appeared in the Journal of Urban History and the Journal of Urban Planning History. His current book project The City Aroused examines the impact of urban redevelopment on the sexual geography of San Francisco during the 1950s and 1960s and had been funded, in part, by a Sexuality Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC).

Other Activities

As a public history consultant, Dr. Scott authored an historical context statement in which he provided the rationale for creating a LGBTQ historic district in San Francisco. He presented the final document to the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Board where it was unanimously adopted and has since served as a justification for preserving sites of national historical significance. As part of the National Parks Service's LGBTQ Heritage Initiative, his context statement has recently been recognized as the first historic preservation document of its kind.

Publications

D. Scott. 2023. The City Aroused: Queer Places and Urban Redevelopment in Postwar San Francisco. 

D. Scott. 2020. Queer Cartographies: Urban Redevelopment and the Changing Sexual Geography of Postwar San Francisco. Historical Geography, GIScience and Textual Analysis.

D. Scott, T. Parekh. 2020. Three Recent Scenes in the Affective Life of Gentrificatino in San Francisco's Polk Gulch. Cultural Geographies. 

Education

• Ph.D., Geography, University of Texas
• M.A., University of Texas
• B.A., Oberlin College