Spencer is an urban designer and social scientist contributing to placemaking projects in the public realm. His current work includes restoring over 20 acres of open space in New York City with the environmental nonprofit GrowNYC. These projects are part of grassroots efforts with community members and other stakeholders to support community building, environmental justice, and land conservation.

He has professional training in urban design with a background in environmental psychology and social work. Green infrastructure projects that he has designed have been featured in The New York Times. His environmental and social science research has been published in the landscape architecture journal PLOT, the Michigan Journal of Sustainability, the journal Mind & Society, and the book Sustainable Consumption, Promise or Myth?​​​​​​​ He is a Fellow of the Urban Design Forum and a licensed social worker in New York State.