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I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and a faculty in the Public Policy Ph.D. program at UNC Charlotte. My research interests are focused on firm location, transportation, and housing. In particular I am interested in the effects of public policy and public investments on firm and household location behavior.
Some of my recent research projects include explorations into the effects of rail transit investments on neighborhood change and residential mobility among low-income individuals; effects of zoning on retail firm location behavior; location behaviors in the craft beer industry (see CityLab article by Richard Florida citing our work); the changing industrial organization of US megaregions; effects of neighborhood foreclosure rates on mortgage lending denial rates; and estimating migration rates associated with economic development projects. My research is quantitative with theoretical grounding in economics as well as geography.
Click here for a short CV.

Education

Ph.D. (2015) Spatially Integrated Social Science (Geography/Economics), University of Toledo
M.A. (2011) Economics, University of Toledo
M.Sc. (2009) Economics, Luleå University of Technology (Sweden)

Teaching

Regional Economic Development
Applied Regional Analysis
Retail Location
Transportation Analysis Methods
Applied Research in Geography

Recent Publications

Delmelle, E.C. and I. Nilsson, 2019. New Rail Transit Stations and the Out-Migration of Low-Income Residents. Urban Studies, forthcoming.
Nilsson, I. and N. Reid, 2019. The Value of a Craft Brewery: On the Relationship between Craft Breweries and Property Values. Growth and Change, forthcoming.
Nilsson, I., O. Smirnov, N. Reid and M. Lehnert, 2019. To Cluster or Not to Cluster? Spatial Determinants of Closures in the American Craft Brewing Industry. Papers in Regional Science, forthcoming.
Canales, K.L., I. Nilsson and E.C. Delmelle, 2019. Do Light Rail Transit Investments Increase Employment Opportunities? The Case of Charlotte, North Carolina. Regional Science Policy & Practice, 11:189-202.
Hammel, D. and I. Nilsson, 2019. Mortgage Foreclosures, Race and Post-Recession Lending. The Professional Geographer, forthcoming.
Nilsson, I. and O. Smirnov, 2018. Limited Location Options: Measuring Spatial Interactions among Retailers under Zoning Restrictions. Geographical Analysis, 50:358-377.
Nilsson, I. and E.C. Delmelle, 2018. Transit Investments and Neighborhood Change: On the Likelihood of Change. Journal of Transport Geography, 66:167-179.
Nilsson, I., N. Reid and M. Lehnert, 2018. Geographic Patterns of Craft Breweries at the Intraurban Scale. The Professional Geographer, 70:114-125.
Nilsson, I. and O. Smirnov, 2017. Clustering vs. Relative Location: Measuring Spatial Interactions between Retail Outlets. Papers in Regional Science, 96:721-741.
Haggquist, E. and I. Nilsson, 2017. Factors Influencing the Adoption of Geological Information in Swedish Municipalities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 60:1112-1126.
Schafer, S. and I. Nilsson, 2016. The Effects of Public and Private Investments in ITS on Freight Transportation Outcomes. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2548:90-96.
Nilsson, I. and O. Smirnov, 2016. Measuring the Effect of Transportation Infrastructure on Retail Firm Co-Location Patterns. Journal of Transport Geography, 51:110-118.