Her research focuses on the history and contemporary forms of U.S. social movements and cities since the mid-20th century, with an emphasis on the politics of stigma, punishment, and uneven development. Her first book, Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence (Duke University Press, 2013) is a history of LGBT activism against violence in New York and San Francisco since the 1960s, framed in the context of broader debates about gentrification, policing, and crime. Professor Hanhardt has also published on the politics of neoliberalism, queer film and video, and other topics in numerous academic journals. She was the winner of the 2013 Undergraduate Studies Teaching Award at the University of Maryland.