Dr. Michael McCanless
Assistant Professor
Geography and the Environment
Email: m.mccanless@ttu.edu
Phone: (806) 834-0250
Office: Holden Hall
Address: Department of Geosciences, Mail Stop 1053, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-1053
Curriculum Vitae
Homepage
Google Scholar
Address: Department of Geosciences, Mail Stop 1053, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-1053
Curriculum Vitae
Homepage
Google Scholar
Education
- B.A. Urban Studies, Rhodes College (2017)
- M.A. Geography, University of Kentucky (2021)
- PhD. Geography, University of Kentucky (2025)
Research
Research
- Urban political economy
- Housing, land and property
- Taxation
- Digital geographies
- Critical cartography/GIS
- Geographic thought and methods
I am a human geographer whose research and teaching focus on the political economy
of land, housing, and real estate across the United States. My current work spans
two ongoing projects.
The first project focuses on housing and taxation, analyzing how specific changes
to the U.S. tax code have contributed to an oversupply of investment in coastal housing
markets over the past decade. In response, individual investors in coastal markets
have increasingly turned to tax-advantaged investment opportunities in the US South
and Midwest. This work traces the effects of provisions such as the 1031 exchange
and the state and local tax (SALT) deduction on the spatial distribution of capital
and the rise of new speculative geographies of investment in Southern and Midwestern
cities.
The second project examines the geographic and fiscal effects of AI capital expenditure
on data centers, with a focus on West Texas. This work traces the speculative geographies
of 'powered land' close to the region's existing energy and water infrastructure,
analyzes how large-scale data center development is reshaping local property tax bases,
and examines how recent federal budget legislation may be carving out tax-advantaged
pathways for data center investment in communities.
I have previously written on bias in alternative credit scoring algorithms, the global
geography of tech startups, and the use of blockchain to create digital markets for
landed property.
Courses
Department of Geosciences
-
Address
Department of Geosciences, 1200 Memorial Circle, Lubbock, TX 79409-1053 -
Phone
806.742.3102 -
Email
geosciences@ttu.edu