Published 4 min read
By Ed Brennen
Topics: Academic Research Faculty & Staff
An aerial view of a college campus alongside a river.

The new Real Estate, Placemaking, Geography of Work (REPGOW) collaborative brings together faculty from across the 小猪视频 campus to better understand the social and economic forces transforming communities.


Where people live, how they work and what makes a community feel like home are questions many cities are grappling with. A new 小猪视频 initiative aims to provide some answers.

The Real Estate, Placemaking, Geography of Work (REPGOW) collaboration is an interdisciplinary research working group that studies everything from housing and neighborhood design to entrepreneurship, public space and economic mobility. The group鈥檚 goal is to spark new research and funding opportunities that help communities adapt to rapid social and economic change.

鈥淲e want to bring people together who study, design, build and live in the spaces that shape how we work,鈥� says Kimberly Merriman, a management professor in the Manning School of Business who is coordinating REPGOW. 鈥淏y connecting research, we can better understand and influence the social and economic forces transforming our communities.鈥�

The initiative grew out of research that Merriman and Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Professor Michael Obal published earlier this year in the on how remote work and corporate relocation are reshaping housing affordability nationwide. Their collaboration sparked broader conversations across campus about how work patterns, migration trends and local amenities intersect, and how 小猪视频 could help shed light on these shifts.

Two women and a man pose for a photo in front of a window. Image by Ed Brennen

The REPGOW collaborative includes, from left, Management Professor Kimberly Merriman, Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Professor Michael Obal and former UML faculty member Teresa Gonzales, now an assistant professor of sociology at Loyola University Chicago.


In addition to Merriman and Obal, the core REPGOW working group includes a trio of faculty members from the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences:

  • Associate Professor Marie Frank, director of the Architectural Studies program, contributes research on Lowell鈥檚 built environment, including a digital humanities project that traces how architecture in the Back Central neighborhood reflects waves of immigration and industry.
  • Theatre Arts Professor Shelley Barish brings expertise in spatial design, noting that set design, interior design and placemaking all rely on storytelling and visualization 鈥� tools that help communities understand and experience the spaces around them.
  • English Professor Jonathan Silverman, co-editor of the essay collection 鈥�,鈥� examines the cultural meanings embedded in buildings, landscapes and public places.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much overlap in what we鈥檙e all studying,鈥� Obal says. 鈥淲hen you start connecting the dots across disciplines, you realize we鈥檙e looking at the same problems from different angles.鈥�

Former UML faculty member Teresa Gonzales, now an assistant professor of sociology at Loyola University Chicago, is helping to guide qualitative research. Her 鈥淕rounds for Play鈥� project, which began in Lawrence, studies how residents use parks and public spaces to build belonging and community identity. She says REPGOW鈥檚 collaborative approach drew her to the group.

鈥淚 am an interdisciplinary scholar by training, and I think that鈥檚 the only way we鈥檙e going to be able to solve some of these problems,鈥� she says, referring to the intertwined challenges of housing, belonging, economic opportunity and the built environment.

A man and two women sit at a desk in a conference room for a meeting. Image by Ed Brennen

REPGOW members, from left, Michael Obal, Teresa Gonzales and Kimberly Merriman hold the group's first in-person meeting this fall at the Pulichino Tong Business Center.


Since launching in October, REPGOW has moved quickly to expand its network. Merriman and Obal have partnered with Amir Naito, an economist who directs the Economic Development Center at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), a partner institution of 小猪视频. Together, the team submitted two seed grant proposals focused on 鈥渜uality of place鈥� 鈥� factors such as affordability, walkability and cultural amenities that influence where people choose to live, as well as the ripple effects those choices have on local economies.

The FGCU partnership gives 小猪视频 access to proprietary data on labor markets, real estate trends and entrepreneurial activity, along with support for interview-based fieldwork in comparison cities such as Miami, Dallas and New York. The goal is to understand why some metro areas are becoming magnets for finance workers and new business creation while others are losing ground.

Merriman鈥檚 current research explores the finance industry鈥檚 shifting geography, analyzing why firms and employees are leaving traditional hubs like New York and Chicago for emerging centers in the South. Obal鈥檚 work examines whether remote work has encouraged new business formation, especially in midsized cities investing in amenities that appeal to mobile workers.

The next steps for REPGOW include advancing the FGCU seed proposals, gathering fieldwork in comparison cities, and involving students in digital mapping and zoning analysis projects. The group is also exploring opportunities to align its work with the university鈥檚 Lowell Innovation Network Corridor () project, which will usher in a wave of development of business, housing and research space and other amenities.聽

鈥淭he more we talk across fields, the more connections we find,鈥� Merriman says.