William Graves

Related People
Heather Smith

Historic parallels in corporate-produced urban space in Charlotte, NC. The Alpha mill village (circa 1900) and the Fourth Ward neighborhood with Bank of America tower in background (2003)

Current Research

I am an economic geographer specializing in studies of the post-industrial transformation of North Carolina. This work focuses on the role of finance in economic development as well as understanding the urban transformation associated with economic change. This work has been funded by the John H. Biggs Faculty Fellowship from UNC Charlotte and the GlaxoSmithKline Faculty Fellowship from the NC State University Institute for Emerging Issues.

The Geography of Finance

  • “Risk, Finance and North Carolina’s Post-Industrial Future.”Southeastern Geographer. (forthcoming with Chris Woodey)
  • “Financing Flexibility in a Global Market: The Metropolitan Distribution of Equity Investment.” in Urban Geography
  • “Corporate Command Status in the Nonmetropolitan South, 1990-2001.” in The Southeastern Geographer
  • “Paying for the New Economy: The Geography of Equity Finance in North Carolina.” in The North Carolina Geographer
  • “Charlotte’s Role as a Financial Center: Looking Beyond Bank Assets.” in The Southeastern Geographer
  •  “The Geography of Mutual Fund Assets.” in The Professional Geographer

The Economic Development of the Urban South

  • “Gentrification as Corporate Growth Strategy: The Strange Case of Charlotte, North Carolina and the Bank of America.” Journal of Urban Affairs. (with Heather Smith)
  • “‘Great Banks Need Great Cities.’ The Corporate (re) Development of a New South City.” in The Southeastern Geographer (with Heather Smith)
  • “The Intra-Urban Distribution of Corporate Activities: A Case Study of Atlanta.” in The Southeastern Geographer
  • “From Mills to Multinationals. The Corporate Production of Space in Southern Cities” (under review) (with Heather Smith)