About

My name is Taylor Shelton and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Georgia State University. Broadly trained as a geographer, my work sits at the intersection of critical human geography and GIS. My research focuses on the variety of ways that urban spaces and social inequalities are represented, reproduced and contested through maps and data.

I am particularly interested in using mapping to develop alternative understandings of urban social and environmental injustices, especially as it relates to issues of housing and property ownership. But rather than only identifying where social problems - like evictions, vacant properties or speculative investments by absentee corporations - are spatially concentrated, my work strives to map the relational geographies that connect those places where inequality is experienced to the places that produce and benefit from such inequalities. More recently, I have begun applying these same techniques to the city of Atlanta and its broader metropolitan region, as chronicled on my blog, Mapping Atlanta.

Prior to joining Georgia State in 2020, I held appointments at Mississippi State University, the University of Kentucky and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before that, I earned BA and MA degrees in geography from the University of Kentucky and my PhD from the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University.

Over the course of my teaching career, I’ve taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate-level courses across both human geography and GIS. At Georgia State, my primary teaching responsibilities have been for the following courses:

• GEOG2200 Mapping Our World: Introduction to Geospatial Technologies
• GEOG4518/GEOS6518 Digital Cartography
• GEOG4533/GEOS6533 Community GIS
• GEOS8006 Survey of Geographic Thought

Prospective Students:

I am always interested in speaking with prospective graduate students for our master’s program in geography at GSU Geosciences. Students working under my supervision generally focus on using GIS methodologies to explore issues in the realm of critical human geography, especially urban social and environmental injustices. I am particularly interested in advising students who want to work on one or more of the following topics:

• Critical and community-based mapping
• Housing, land and property ownership
• Urban environmental justice in Atlanta

If you’re interested in working with me on these (or closely related) topics, please email me with your CV/resume, a brief statement describing your interests, and a sample of your written and/or cartographic work.

Current Students:

Lynesia Denson
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2024-present
B.S. in Public Policy, Georgia State University, 2017

Aaron Pacheco
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2025-present
B.S. in Environmental Geosciences, Georgia State University, 2024

Ryan Pardue
Ph.D. in Urban Studies, Georgia State University, 2023-present
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2023
B.A. in Geography and Economics, University of Tennessee, 2019

Hazel Pepperman
M.S. in Water Sciences, Georgia State University, 2024-present
B.S. in Environmental Geosciences, Georgia State University, 2024

Sophuth Phon
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2024-present
B.A. in Geography, SUNY Geneseo, 2024

Past Students:

Carys Behnke
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2022
B.S./B.A. in Geography, University of Georgia, 2020
Thesis: Blocking Out the Sun: Restricting Rooftop Solar in Atlanta, Georgia

Noé Calderon Castro
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2024
B.S. in Environmental Spatial Analysis, University of North Georgia, 2021
Capstone: Global Seeds, Local Roots: International Investment in US Agricultural Land

Campbell Casseb
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2022
B.S. in Forestry, University of Tennessee, 2017
Capstone: Modern Extent and Impacts of Atlanta’s Suburban Forest Conversion into Primarily Residential Land Use

Marissa Fallico
M.I.S. in Urban Studies, Georgia State University, 2022
B.A. in Environmental Studies, Northeastern University, 2019
Capstone: Examining the Financialization of Farmland in Frederick County, Maryland

Tristan Jumeau
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2023
B.S. in Environmental Geosciences, Georgia State University, 2022
Capstone: Investigating the Distribution of Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Atlanta, Georgia

Hannah Mizell
B.S. in GIS and Environmental Geoscience, Mississippi State University, 2020

Mustafa Monk
M.S. in Geography, Mississippi State University, 2020
B.A. in Geography, University of Texas-Austin, 2017
Thesis: Evaluating the unequal impacts of Hurricane Harvey: Critical GIS analysis in systems of governmental risk assessment and mitigation in Houston, Texas

Brandon North
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2022
B.S. in Geology, University of Georgia, 2013
Capstone: The Cost of Green Infrastructure and the Price Residents Pay

Alec Sparks
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2025
B.A. in Urban and Regional Studies, University of Michigan-Dearborn, 2018
Thesis: Brave New Detroit: Housing Geographies of Speculative Investment in a Right-Sizing City

Laurel Sparks
B.S. in Environmental Geosciences, Georgia State University, 2022

Mia Wood
M.S. in Geography, Georgia State University, 2024
B.S. in Environmental Geosciences, Georgia State University, 2023
Thesis: TOD Trade-Offs: Transit-Oriented Development and Neighborhood Change in Atlanta