Dr. Alec Foster
Associate Professor
Office
FHS Felmley Hall Of Science
Office Hours
T 10:00-12:00AM, W 12:00-1:00 PM/or by appointment
Office Phone
Email
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Selected Research
Biography
I am a broadly trained human-environment geographer. My work seeks to understand processes of urban environmental change, especially in postindustrial cities in the United States.
Current Courses
GEO 326.001 Environmental Justice
GEO 426.001 Environmental Justice
GEO 287.009 Independent Study - Geography
GEO 138.001 Maps and Geographic Reasoning
Ph D Geography and Urban Studies
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA
MA Geography
University of South Florida
Tampa, FL
BA Environmental Studies
New College of Florida
Sarasota, FL
Outstanding College Service Award
Illinois State University, College of Arts and Sciences
2024
Research Initiative Award
Illinois State University
2022
Grants and Contracts
Advancing Research and Creative Scholarship
Chang Su-Russell, Elke Altenburger, Sundeep Inti, Alec Foster.
Illinois State University. October 2025
“Advancing Research and Creative Scholarship (ARCS) Track II”
Chang Su-Russell, Elke Altenburger, Sundeep Inti, Alec Foster, Reem Bagais.
Illinois State University. August 2025 - 2026
Harmonizing Habitats: Floating Gardens as Drivers of Socio-Ecological Sustainability on the Chicago River
Alec Foster, Mike Hendricks, Joan M. Brehm, Eric Peterson, Noha Shawki, Phil Nicodemus, Sage Rossman.
Illinois State University-Advancing Research and Creative Scholarship. 2025 - 2026
Revitalizing Urban Waterways: Floating Gardens as a Path to Social Sustainability on the Chicago River
Mike Hendricks, Alec Foster, Noha Shawki, Eric Peterson, Joan Brehm.
Illinois State University's Advancing Research and Creative Scholarship. August 15 2025 - September 30 2026
2018-2019 IGS Research Grant Award
Alec Foster.
Illinois Geographical Society. January 1 2019 - August 16 2019
Urban Environmental Change in Detroit and Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
University Research Grant Program, College of Arts and Sciences, Illinois State University. 2019 - 2019
Book Review
Igoe, J. 2017. The nature of spectacle: on images, money, and conserving capitalism. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-3044-1; US$29.95
Alec Foster.
(2019), 26, 2, Journal of Political Ecology
Conference Proceeding
3D‐DSS: A NOVEL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR COMMUNITY DIRECTED GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN
Mark Lindquist, Victoria Campbell-Arvai, Alec Foster, Shannon Sylte, Frank Deatom.
United States Forest Service, General Technical Report NRS-P-183, 286, (2018)
Journal Article
FRINGE FINANCIAL ECOLOGIES AND PLACE-BASED EXCLUSION: A Tale of Two Cities
Ian M Dunham, Alec Foster.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, 47 (6), 18, (2023), 10.1111/1468-2427.13155
Rising to the Challenge: Embedding Environmental Justice in Management and Organization Studies
Alec Foster, Nichole Wissman, Laura A Bray, Jennifer DeBoer, Seray Ergene, Oscar Jerome Stewart, Ian M Dunham.
ORGANIZATION & ENVIRONMENT, 35, (2023), 10.1177/10860266231201992
An environmental justice analysis of urban tree canopy distribution and change
Alec Foster, Ian M. Dunham, Anna Bukowska.
Journal of Urban Affairs, 16, (2022), 10.1080/07352166.2022.2083514
Documenting Land Use Practices in South Kensington, Philadelphia
Alec Foster, Alexander Olson, Ian M Dunham, Daniel Kunches.
Illinois Geographer, 62 (1), 49-69, (2021)
Volunteer Urban Environmental Stewardship, Emotional Economies of Care, and Productive Power in Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
Sustainability, 13, 13, (2021), 10.3390/su13147867
Detroit's lines of desire: Footpaths and vacant land in the Motor City
Alec Foster, Joshua P. Newell.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 189, 260--273, (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.04.009
Volunteer Environmental Stewardship and Affective Labour in Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
CONSERVATION & SOCIETY, 16 (1), 52-63, (2018), 10.4103/cs.cs_16_49
Citizen Science for Urban Forest Management? Predicting the Data Density and Richness of Urban Forest Volunteered Geographic Information
Alec Foster, Ian Dunham, Charles Kaylor.
Urban Science, 1 (3), 30, (2017), 10.3390/urbansci1030030
Proximate Landscapes of Economic Inclusion in Southeastern Pennsylvania
Ian M. Dunham, Alec Foster.
PROFESSIONAL GEOGRAPHER, 67 (1), 132-144, (2015), 10.1080/00330124.2014.907697
Volunteered geographic information, urban forests, & environmental justice
Alec Foster, Ian M. Dunham.
COMPUTERS ENVIRONMENT AND URBAN SYSTEMS, 53, 65-75, (2015), 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2014.08.001
A 40 -year review of food–energy–water nexus literature and its application to the urban scale
Joshua P Newell, Benjamin Goldstein, Alec Foster.
Environmental Research Letters, 14 (7), 073003, 10.1088/1748-9326/ab0767
Ecosystem services of urban agriculture and prospects for scaling up production: A study of Detroit
Joshua P. Newell, Alec Foster, Mariel Borgman, Sara Meerow.
Cities, 125, 103664, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103664
Presentations
Harmonizing Habitats: Investigating the Socioecological Impacts of Floating Gardens in the Chicago River
Alec Foster.
American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Detroit, MI, March 24, 2025
Developing a Research Agenda for Climate Justice in Management and Organization Studies
Alec Foster.
Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management,, Boston, MA, August 7, 2023
Planting Justice? The Environmental Justice Impacts of Urban Tree Planting Campaigns
Alec Foster.
American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, March, 2023
An environmental justice analysis of urban tree canopy distribution and change in Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences Annual Conference, Towson, MD, June, 2022
An environmental justice analysis of urban tree canopy distribution and change
Alec Foster.
Annual Meeting of the Illinois Geographical Society, Lisle, IL, April, 2022
The Impact of Revitalization on Access to Nature: Analyzing Greenspace Change in South Kensington, Philadelphia
Alexander Olson, Alec Foster.
University Research Symposium, Normal, IL, April 1, 2022
There Goes the Neighborhood? Understanding Rapid Socioecological Change in Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Online, March, 2022
Volunteered Geographic Information, Urban Forests, and Environmental Justice
Alec Foster.
Collaborative Urban Forests Webinar Series, online, November, 2021
Planting Justice? Procedural Urban Forest Environmental Justice in Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
Applied Geography Conference, Online, October 15, 2021
Planting Justice? Sustainability, Urban Forests, and Environmental Justice in Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
Illinois Geographical Society 81st Annual Meeting, Online, May 1, 2021
Mapping Detroit’s Lines of Desire: Green Infrastructure, Vacant Land, & Mobility in the Motor City
Alec Foster.
Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, Online, April 9, 2021
Terra Nullius or Terra Incognita: Land Use Analysis of Greenspace in Olde Kensington Philadelphia
Alexander Olson, Alec Foster.
University Research Symposium, Normal, IL, April 9, 2021
Planting Justice? Sustainability, Urban Forests, and Environmental Justice in Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
Annual Meeting of the West Lakes Division of the American Association of Geographers, online, November 13, 2020
Growing Justice? Tree Canopy Change and Equity in Philadelphia
Anna Bukowska, Alec Foster.
Illinois Innovation Network (IIN) Research Conference on Sustainability, Online, October 29, 2020
Terra Nullius or Terra Incognita? Documenting Land Use Practices in South Kensington, Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
Illinois Innovation Network (IIN) Research Conference on Sustainability, Online, October 29, 2020
Planting Justice? Sustainability, Urban Forests, and Environmental Justice in Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
Illinois Geographical Society 81st Annual Meeting, Online, May 1, 2020
Documenting Greenspaces in Philadelphia
Seth Hardin, Alec Foster.
University Research Symposium, Online, April, 2020
Terra Nullius or Terra Incognita? Documenting Land Use Practices in Philadelphia
Alec Foster.
Annual Meeting of the Illinois Geographical Society, Dubuque, Iowa, April 27, 2019
Critical Mixed Methods for Participatory Urban Socioecological Research
Alec Foster.
Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, Washington, DC, April 6, 2019
Chicago’s Millennium Park: Finding Nature in the City
Nicolette Sheffield, Eric Godoy, Alec Foster.
The University Research Symposium, Normal, IL, April 5, 2019