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Vol. 1, No. 4 – Spring 2018
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MEMBER PRODUCTS
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PEOPLE CONNECTED
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3RD ANNUAL ALL-HANDS MEETING
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On March 19, more than 100 UREx SRN researchers, practitioners, external advisory members, and other interdisciplinary scientists and scholars from 40+ institutions, governmental organizations, and community partners helped kick off our third annual All-Hands Meeting (AHM) at Arizona State University. The 3-day event consisted of multiple plenary sessions with topics ranging from recent extreme events (such as Hurricane Irma and María), to design storms and scenario workshops. In addition, there were over 35 other sessions organized on specific projects and themes occurring across the network, including our annual poster session highlighting recent UREx research.
We also held a number of fun activities, including: 1) an interactive diversity and equity workshop with special guest facilitators from the Center for Whole Communities; 2) "La RED" poetry event where four local Arizonans and one UREx Postdoc shared their poetry in response to Resilience, Equity, and Diversity (RED) within our cities; and 3) a video booth where network members recorded a brief introduction of themselves and their research interests - within the UREx SRN and beyond - to help share information, as well as increase network awareness and connectivity.
A special thanks to everyone who made this year's AHM the most successful one yet. From the planning committee, to the 20+ session organizers (including many student and practitioner-led sessions!), the success of this meeting is in large part due to your contributions. A meeting report will be made available soon.
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UREx SRN and Resilience in Puerto Rico
Resilience: Puerto Rico in the face of global climate change and its impact on communities
In September 2017, Hurricane María caused unprecedented destruction for the island of Puerto Rico, and both urban/rural communities and vulnerable populations were severely impacted. The next hurricane season is quickly approaching, and access to basic essentials such as electricity and clean water are still a work in progress. UREx SRN is actively responding to the crisis to build back a better future in a number of ways. Relief efforts include collaboration with community-based organizations, local and international non-government organizations (NGOs), and the U.S. federal government.
- Dr. Pablo Méndez Lázaro traveled to Capitol Hill to join Oxfam America’s first responders in educating key members of Congress on disaster relief needs for Puerto Rico, which through the Hispanic Caucus led to language included in H.R. bill 4667 for federal funds to be allocated to hiring local civil society organization, governments, and businesses; the bill was passed.
- A small group of UREx researchers and practitioners from across our network cities met in San Juan at the beginning of this year to plan recovery efforts for capacity building and an infrastructure that will be more resilient during future tropical storms. UREx SRN will work with local leadership to not only rebuild but to also transform the infrastructural, social, and political conditions that made Puerto Rico vulnerable to these catastrophic natural events. A recap of the 2-day workshop can be viewed here, and more details can found in this recently published article by the USDA Forest Service: https://www.fs.fed.us/inside-fs/aftermath-hurricane-maria-part-2-island-wide-efforts.
- PR Architects and the Landscape Architects Association of Puerto Rico (CAAPPR by its Spanish acronym) hosted the Annual Architecture Week in Puerto Rico, which centered on the catastrophic effects of Hurricane María, and drew in over 100 attendees. Ivonne María Marcial, the association’s President, opened up the meeting and made the initial presentation remarks. Presentations were given by Drs. Fernando Abruña, Ariel Lugo, Jennifer Santos Hernández, and Pablo Méndez Lázaro (topics included below) and the discussion was moderated by Architect Fernando Abruña.
- Dr. Méndez Lázaro - Offered his personal experiences in the Public Health realm by narrating his voluntary efforts to directly help affected communities, and how bureaucracy and inefficiency in the government agencies became a huge impediment in moving forward the rescue efforts
- Dr. Santos Hernández - Social impacts and how slow response times have affected the more vulnerable sectors of society
- Dr. Lugo - Inherent resiliency in nature following the hurricane (something not seen in the island’s infrastructure): a regrowth of vegetation in a short time frame
- Dr. Abruña - Outlined UREx objectives, city members, and present research interests.
In addition to these efforts, many people in Puerto Rico and here on the mainland are still working to bring resolution to this recent devastation. UREx researchers and practitioners will continue collaborating as a team on these challenges and update the network as new solutions are presented.
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UREx DESIGN PILOT PROJECT
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Hands on Design Course in South Mountain
Paul Coseo, CAP LTER & UREx SRN Collaborator and professor at the Design School at Arizona State University demonstrated his dedication to urban resilience by turning his landscape architecture design studio with fellow design professor Allyce Hargrove, into an interdisciplinary collaboration with UREx SRN PhD students, postdocs, community organizations and many local external urban design partners. This synergistic experience led to valuable learnings that will influence future decisions made in urban design.
The design studio emphasized the integration of multiple perspectives on urban ecological infrastructure in South Mountain Village (Phoenix). Design students collaborated with UREx team members to envision equitable urban ecological infrastructure that supports healthy human and wildlife communities, creates cooler neighborhoods while reconnecting fragmented open space systems between mountain and river. The course kicked off with a transect drive from the South Mountain Environmental Education Center to the Rio Salado Audubon Center along Central Avenue, with stops along the canal and urban greenspaces where the students and the teaching team experienced first-hand the opportunities and the challenges faced by this community that has been historically underserved.
Maggie Messerschmidt, Urban Conservation Program Manager for the Nature Conservancy and UREx SRN Phoenix practitioner, also periodically interfaced with the course. Maggie, with local partners and the UREx SRN, has launched the Nature's Cooling Systems project in South Mountain Village and two other area neighborhoods to confront the heat island effect and related public health and urban development concerns. Some of the site-level designs from this course may be used to guide and inspire small pilot projects and action plans for heat mitigation as part of the Nature’s Cooling System effort.
UREx team members also reviewed design projects and selected several designs and suggestions for master plans, which were recently used during the Phoenix Scenarios Workshop on May 11, 2018 at South Mountain. Design ideas provided by the students included improved shade on bus stops, revitalization of the Salt River, educational centers, and spaces for urban agriculture.
The UREx-Design pilot will be used as a utility model for future UREx and design research, and further UREx-Design collaboration will focus on supporting the Rio Salado 2.0 project in transforming the Salt River into a city highlight for the urban community.
See short narrative feed: http://wke.lt/w/s/PO67c
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COMMUNICATING OUR RESEARCH
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Our members are doing great work and they’re sharing UREx research through publications, presentations, social media, and more!
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Chester, M.V. and B. R. Allenby. 2018. Toward Adaptive Infrastructure: Flexibility and Agility in a Non-stationarity Age. Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure 3(1):1-19. DOI: 10.1080/23789689.2017.1416846.
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McPhillips, L.E., H. Chang, M.V. Chester, Y. Depietri, E. Friedman, N.B. Grimm, J.S. Kominoski, P. Méndez-Lázaro, T. McPhearson, E.J. Rosi, J. Shafiei Shiva. 2018. Defining extreme events: a cross-disciplinary review. Earth’s Future. 6 (441). DOI: 10.1002/2017EF000686
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A special shout out to those who helped UREx stand out at the 2018 American Association of Geographers (AAG) meeting last month! Member presentations covered all aspects of the SETS domains.
- A Conceptual Framework for Urban Vulnerability Analysis in Sustainability Science: Integrating Socio-Ecological-Technological Systems by R. Roy Chowdhury, G. Hydrick, C. Cheng, A. Barnett, D. Eisenmann, J. Santos-Hernandez, and V. Shandas
- A social-ecological-technical systems approach to modeling future scenarios of heat and heat vulnerability in New York City by T. McPhearson
- Assessing the resilience, sustainability, and transformability of the future of Latin American cities by M. Berbes-Blazquez, D. Iwaniec, D. Wahl, and E. Cook
- Assessment of urban flood vulnerability to climate extremes by H. Chang, S. Cho, L. Helaire, and S. Talke
- Cooling the City: Micro scale physical interventions for reducing heat stress on maternal and child health by V. Shandas, M. Rao, L. Messer, L. George, and P.A. Wild
- Environmental Racism and Eco-Refugees: Exploring the Flint Water Crisis from the White Suburban Periphery by R. Breitzer
- Geolocated social media as a rapid indicator of park visitation and equitable park access by Z. Hamstead, D. Fisher, R. Illeva, S.A. Wood, T. McPhearson, and P. Kremer
- Infrastructures and action situations: converging ideas in science and technology studies and institutional analysis to study urban resilience to climate extremes by A. Barnett, R. Roy Chowdhury, K. Grove, G. Hydrick, E. Gaiser, J. Kominoski, and M. Smith
- Knowledge Systems for Urban Stewardship: Exploring the Role of Civic Knowledge Systems in Environmental and Sustainability Governance by T.A. Muñoz-Erickson, E. Cook, R.J. Hobbins, M. Johnson, D. Iwaniec, L. Campbell
- Positive Futures by D.M. Iwaniec, E. Cook, M. Berbes Blazquez, M. Davidson, N.B. Grimm, T. McPhearson, and T. Muñoz-Erickson
- Positively resilient? Public perceptions of urban resilience by S. Meerow
- Producing and communicating coastal flood risk and uncertainty in a non-stationary climate: Lessons from New York City and Miami by R.J. Hobbins, C.A. Miller and T.A. Muñoz-Erickson
- Research-practice criteria for urban sustainability transformations by E. Cook, D. Iwaniec, N.B. Grimm, and O. Barbosa
- Rethinking Air Quality in Puerto Rico: A case study of barrio Espinosa in the Municipality of Dorado by A. Mendez-Heavilin and J.M. Santos-Hernandez
- Socio-hydrology woven fine: Urban tree canopy cover and structure as rooted in/mediating uneven social and hydrological contexts by G. Hydrick, R. Roy Chowdhury, A.Barnett, M. Smith, J. Kominoski, and K. Grove
- Socio-political infrastructure and the dynamics of vulnerability in the Megacity by H. Eakin, L. Bojórquez-Tapia, D. Manuel-Navarrete, M. Janssen, A. Baeza-Castro, A. M. Lerner, and R. Shelton
- Towards a new infrastructure of dissent: framing knowledge innovation for the future of urban resilience by M. Feagan
- Transforming the City of San Juan in the Wake of Hurricane Maria: Assessing the performance of adaptive and transformative scenarios by G. Álvarez Rosario, Jenniffer M. Santos Hernández, and Ashley Méndez Heavilin
- Urban Climate Adaptation and Vulnerability: Assessing social, ecological and technological strategies in three US cities by M. Davidson, Y. Kim, M. Berbes-Blazquez, E. Cook, N.B. Grimm, Z. Hamsted, and D. Iwaniec
- ‘We are Open’: Business Continuity in San Juan, Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria by J.Santos-Hernández, G. Álvarez Rosario, and A. Méndez Heavilin
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Other Conferences of Interest to Network Members
- The 2nd Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Urban Infrastructure History and the Social Sciences. Università Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy, June 11-13, 2018.
- 10th International Conference on Urban Climate/14th Symposium on the Urban Environment. Conference theme: Sustainable and Resilient Urban Environments. New York, NY, August 6-10, 2018
- 7th Annual International Disaster and Risk Conference (IDRC Davos) 2018. Davos, Switzerland. August 26-30, 2018.
- 8th International Conference on Building Resilience (ICBR). Lisbon, Portugal. November, 7-9, 2018.
- 2018 National Disaster Resilience Conference. Clearwater Beach, FL. November 7-9, 2018.
- 2018 RES/CON New Orleans - The Global Resilience Summit. New Orleans, LA. December 5-7, 2018.
- NCSE 2019 Annual Conference: Sustainable Infrastructure & Resilience. Washington, DC. June 8-9, 2019.
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Future Cities is a new, bilingual podcast created by UREx graduate students and postdocs to communicate their research with a broader audience, to share stories from across the network, and highlight some of the challenges that cities face when planning for future extreme events. Existing episodes cover a range of topics including innovation in cities, scenario workshops, and heatwaves in Hermosillo. Future Cities can be listened to at the UREx SRN News and Outreach Podcast, Future Cities YouTube channel, iTunes, and Stitcher. Follow on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod for regular updates.
The Future Cities podcast team is always looking for new ideas! Please reach out if you have an idea to feature or want to produce your own episode at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com.
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Ted Bohn
Research Collaborator, CHExWG
Dr. Ted Bohn received his Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics and Master’s degree in Geophysics from U.C. Berkeley. After several years working in the private sector, including 3 years at Microsoft, he returned to academia to pursue a PhD in Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Washington in Seattle (advised by Dennis Lettenmaier). There, Ted was involved in a number of different large-scale hydrological modeling projects, including his dissertation on the influence of water table levels on methane emissions from Siberian wetlands; implementation of a multi-model drought monitoring system; refinement of algorithms for creating synthetic meteorological fields from station measurements; and management of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model code.
At Arizona State University, Ted is currently investigating the impacts of changes in land cover/use and climate on hydrology and water use. Ted’s initial focus began with the North American Monsoon region of north-western Mexico and the south-western US, but has expanded to include the Colorado River Basin and the various cities of the UREx SRN project.
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Sara Meerow
Research Collaborator, Phoenix
Dr. Sara Meerow is a new assistant professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University. She is an interdisciplinary social-ecological systems scientist working at the intersection of urban geography and planning. Her research tackles the challenge of how to make cities more resilient in the face of climate change and other social and environmental hazards. She combines more conceptual studies of urban resilience with empirical research on the complexities of green infrastructure and climate change adaptation planning in a range of cities, from Detroit to Manila. She earned her PhD in 2017 from the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment (now the School for Environment and Sustainability). She also has a master’s in international development studies from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and is a native South Floridian.
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Rocio Carrero
Postdoc, Scenario Modeling
Dr. Rocio Carrero is an environmental scientist with expertise in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, scenarios and spatial modeling. Since 2016, she has concentrated her efforts in developing and testing experimental models to assess urban resilience. Dr Carrero has worked with the EU ECHO, The World Bank, the Red Cross and the IADB, as well as governments and NGOs in over a dozen countries. She holds a PhD in Geosciences from the University Pablo de Olavide of Seville, Spain. Prior to joining the The New School, she was a postdoc at the University College London (UCL). She is now part of UREx's Scenario Modeling Task Force, working under Dr Timon McPhearson, and together with the rest of the team, in developing computational models to spatially simulate alternative future scenarios ,taking into consideration cities’ current planning and stakeholders visions, to explore future vulnerability to extreme events in UREx cities.
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Ben Fahy
Graduate Student, Portland
Ben received his Bachelors in Economics and Mathematics in 2014 from the University of Michigan. Shortly after graduating, he moved to California amidst the drought and developed an interest in water policy and management. Ben has since began his masters in Geography at Portland State University with certificates in Hydrology and GIS. He is currently writing his masters thesis on green infrastructure and how it relates to stormwater management and flood mitigation. He works closely with his advisor and mentor, Heejun Chang.
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Erica Gilrein
Graduate Student, Phoenix
Erica received her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wyoming in 2016, and is working toward a master’s in Sustainable Engineering from ASU, as well as a professional engineering license. Her research interests include sustainable and resilient civil infrastructure, especially water-related infrastructure systems. At the moment, she is researching agile and flexible infrastructure systems under Dr. Mikhail (Mike) Chester. She hopes that this research will one day help create infrastructure that drives sustainability in urban environments.
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Dana Hellman
Graduate Student, Portland
Dana Hellman is a first year PhD student in the Urban Studies program at Portland State University. With help from her mentor, Dr. Vivek Shandas, she is researching the effects of urban heat in SRN-affiliated cities, as well as possible amelioratory solutions. In addition to urban heat, her doctoral research interests include climate migration and aquatic resource management. Prior to attending PSU, Dana twice attended the University of Cincinnati where she earned her BA in Anthropology, and Master of Community Planning degree, focusing on environmental planning and geographic information systems.
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Allison Leet
Graduate Student, New York City
Allison Leet is a Buffalo, NY native and currently enrolled as a Graduate student in the Geographic Information Systems program within the University at Buffalo Geography Department. She was a 2016 graduate from the Geography Department and possesses a BA in International Trade and a BA in Geography with a concentration in Earth Systems Science. Allison also serves as Vice-chairwoman on the Board of Directors of the Western New York-based and newly-formed non-profit organization Designing to Live Sustainably. Her primary passion is invested in the growth of this organization into a climate action and adaptation leader within the Western New York Region. As a Graduate student, she plans on further studying urban heat island effects in Erie County.
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Urban Resilience Reading Group (URRG)
The 2017 Urban Resilience Reading Group (URRG), comprised of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, worked diligently last fall to deepen their understanding of the S-E-T-S disciplines and how the key characteristics of each collectively promote urban resilience, yet may also have divergent qualities at times. A guiding framework was thus provided for further exploration of individual students' research to determine how their topics overlap, parallel, and can be further integrated into research efforts already put forth within the SRN. Three common themes emerged: 1) Resilience Assessment for a SETS perspective 2) Green Infrastructure 3) Social Justice and Equity. These themes, along with others, were carried into the spring semester 2018 as small student-led groups work to identify products, literature, and identify gaps through various research lenses.
Visualizing Network Collaboration through Mapping
The University Office of Evaluation and Educational Effectiveness (UOEEE) partnered with the Network Evaluation Working Group (NEWG) to pilot a method of collaborative mapping to visualize the network dynamics and collaboration. Phase one maps of administrative data (discipline, workgroup membership, and task force membership) stimulated a lively reflection and generated several questions to guide phase two maps, coming soon!
Additionally, postdocs and graduate students completed the annual survey which provides valuable feedback on the integration within the network, the value of international collaboration, and the growth as a scientist for our network members. The UOEEE also interviewed mentors throughout the network to increase understanding of what mentorship looks like within the UREx SRN as well as to highlight practices that work well.
Figure 1. Phase One collaborative maps
Dark color indicates there is more of a presences of discipline in the network.
Closer to the center of the map indicates more of a presence in working groups.
Larger circles indicate more of a presence in task forces.
2016-2019 Cohorts Professional Goals for UREx SRN Participation
UREx SRN baseline survey respondents were asked to describe their professional goals for their tenure in the SRN. Recurring themes in responses centered on opportunities to network with colleagues and build their practice and publication experience. The word cloud below illustrates the words used in responses from the first and second cohorts, with larger font sizes indicating more frequent use. Main themes centered on building or expanding respondents’ professional networks. Respondents also hoped for opportunities to collaborate with others on research or publications.
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International Research Experience for Students:
Valdivia, Chile
The Resilient Urban Latin America (RULA) International Research Experience for Students (IRES) project wrapped up earlier this semester with the first group of students in Valdivia, Chile. They conducted research and gained skills in research design, data analysis and management, and presentation within the diverse social and political culture of Valdivia. These students worked hard this semester to advance themselves as effective change agents for Anthropocene within the context of climate change and urbanization in Valdivia.
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Left to right: Stephen Elser, Anamarie Shreeves, Jason Sauer, Matthew Smith, and Tearsa Saffell
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Stephen Elser, ASU, Perceptions and Values of Valdivia's Urban Wetlands
The goal of my project was to understand what services and values that Valdivians derive from the city's urban wetlands. I did this in two parts. First, I distributed a questionnaire to practitioners aimed at identifying their general perceptions about the wetlands and what specific services they experienced from the wetlands. Second, I used existing data to determine whether proximity to wetlands has an impact on housing prices. The collaborations between all of the IRES students was very exciting. Together, we formed a really robust set of data about Valdivia's wetlands!
Tearsa Saffell, ASU, Water Assessment and Vegetation Survey
My work in Valdivia centered around understanding how natural vegetation correlates with the nutrient concentration of water in individual urban wetlands. So far, research is based off of a comprehensive water study done by Stephen Elser last winter. My goal was to collect comparative summer water samples from select wetlands, based on a nitrogen and water flow gradient, to understand the seasonal variability of the water composition. I also surveyed the vegetation at these sites to try and dissect the dynamics between the vegetation and water quality. Valdivia is a truly unique urban ecosystem, and I learned a lot from my research!
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Anamarie Shreeves, GSU, Trash Hot Spots in Valdivia's Wetlands
I conducted a baseline study of trash hot spots in the city's numerous wetlands. My research included a visual trash assessment in various wetlands across multiple land use types to determine the most polluted wetlands based on designated zoning, accessibility, and possible sources. The goal was to provide a baseline that will initiate a multidisciplinary convening among Valdivian stakeholders to determine best practices for intervention, reduction and prevention of trash pollution.
Matt Smith, FIU, Evaluating water ecosystem services in a complex urban landscape
My project focused on evaluating the potential of urban green spaces to mitigate urban flooding and water quality across Valdivia's complex urban landscape. I first evaluated the ability of urban wetlands to (1) reduce urban flooding across a range of climate scenarios and (2) increase nutrient removal efficiencies across a gradient of urbanization. To better understand the relationship between design vs. function, I then observed changes in water source and quality along a gradient of 'grey' to 'green' stormwater infrastructure. Together with the other IRES students, this work has added to our understanding of ecosystem service function and delivery in a diverse urban framework!
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