News/Research

Conference Grant Reports: Jillian (Lee) Crandall at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting

08 Jun, 2024

Conference Grant Reports: Jillian (Lee) Crandall at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting

We are pleased to support our students sharing their work at the premiere conferences in their field. Jillian (Lee) Crandall presented “Real Estate Tokenization: Digital Transformations in Land, Property, and Technoeconomic Development in Post-Industrial Contexts” and "Critical, Creative, Collaborative," at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting. From Lee:

In April 2024, I presented at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. Each year the AAG Annual Meeting connects geographers around the world to foster conversation, intellectual exchange, and professional development, ultimately seeking to better understand the places and spaces we inhabit to foster justice and equitability. The theme this year was “Reciprocal Scholarship - ʻAʻohe pau ka ‘ike i ka hālau hoʻokahi” – one can learn from many sources; prioritizing non-extractive research and community-building.

At the 2024 AAG Annual Meeting I delivered two presentations. The first was a plenary panel for the Digital Geographies of Land Justice specialty group, in which I gave a talk titled, “Real Estate Tokenization: Digital Transformations in Land, Property, and Technoeconomic Development in Post-Industrial Contexts.” This presentation explored the methodology of mapping opaque and hidden housing financialization data of blockchain tokenized properties in Detroit. The second presentation was titled “Spatializing Cryptoeconomic Imaginaries” and was part of the UC Berkeley / Studio.Geo focused “Critical, Creative, Collaborative” panel organized by Dr. Emma Fraser and Dr. Clancy Wilmott. This presentation critically reflected on contemporary architectural and urban renderings of “tech cities” and their role in producing new techno-political urban imaginaries. Altogether, I am grateful for BCNM’s financial support as the conference was an excellent opportunity to discuss my research with existing and new colleagues, while opening my mind up to new knowledge(s) in and outside of geography.