Graduate student Courtney Farley’s research is bringing an interdisciplinary perspective to studies encompassing sustainability and technological change.

Courtney Farley’s research explores the intersections of sustainability, equity, and social justice in urban and industrial contexts. 

In collaboration with Assistant Professor Aryana Soliz, she investigates how the green city movement can better integrate disability justice and care ethics into urban sustainability transitions. While green urbanism often focuses on infrastructure such as green spaces, sustainable transport, and energy systems, it has largely overlooked the experiences and knowledge of disability communities. 

Drawing from urban political ecology and critical disability studies, Farley examines who benefits—and who is excluded—in efforts to create more sustainable cities, highlighting how care practices and lived expertise within disability communities can inform more inclusive and equitable urban transformation.

In her research with Teaching Assistant Professor AJ Knowles, Farley studies the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) globally and in the southern United States. She examines the social, political, and cultural dynamics shaping EV transitions, as well as the barriers and opportunities for achieving more equitable and sustainable outcomes. 

Additionally, she investigates how labor and industrial systems intersect with EV adoption, including how unionization efforts and technological transitions are shaping the future of auto manufacturing, workers, and production systems. 

Through this dual research focus, Farley brings a critical, interdisciplinary perspective to pressing issues at the intersection of sustainability, social justice, and technological change.