In extreme environments such as our desert Southwest, climate at both micro- and macro-scales can be a big problem for humans and other living things. Beyond such challenges as long-term drought and the urban heat-island effect that prevent cities from cooling down at night, the specter of global warming rears its frightening head. Our climate researchers are asking:
- How do human activities affect, and how are they affected by, climate?
- What can we do to ameliorate unfavorable climatic conditions?
- How can we ensure that human needs are met in conditions of uncertainty?
These are some of the crucial questions that our researchers and students are addressing.
Decision Center for a Desert City
This Center studies the decision processes used to plan and manage water resources and urbanization.
National Center of Excellence (NCE) on SMART Innovations for Urban Climate and Energy
The NCE was founded to become the premier national laboratory for developing the next generation of Sustainable Materials and Renewable Technologies (SMART).
Southwest Environmental Information Network (SEINet)
SEINet is a center of biodiversity information, organizing Southwestern natural-history collections into one portal.
Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER)
Through interdisciplinary projects integrating natural sciences, social science, and engineering, CAP LTER examines the effects of urbanization on a desert ecosystem and vice versa.
Phoenix Area Social Survey
This survey studies the relationships between people and the natural environment in the Phoenix metro area.
Urbanization and Global Environmental Change
This collaborative project is building greater knowledge and understanding of the bidirectional interactions between global environmental change and cities, present at local, regional, and global scales, and integrating the work of decision makers, practitioners, and academic researchers.
Arizona Water Institute
The Water Institute builds economic opportunity in Arizona by improving access to water information, assisting communities and local governments with technology transfer, and helping water-related industries.
Arizona Hydrological Information System
This project is developing the information infrastructure needed to access data on water-related research, technology, planning, education, and outreach from multiple sources in the Southwest.
Decision Theater
The Decision Theater is an immersive, interactive, 3D-visualization facility for collaborative decision making.
Urbanization and Global Environmental Change
This collaborative project is building greater knowledge and understanding of the bidirectional interactions between global environmental change and cities, present at local, regional, and global scales, and integrating the work of decision makers, practitioners, and academic researchers.
Greater Phoenix 2100
GP2100 is a network of ASU and community researchers dedicated to using knowledge to create better lives for future generations.
Sustainability Partnership
The Sustainability Partnership engages local and state policy-makers, resource managers, and industry leaders in planning for sustainable urban growth, social and economic development, resource management, and environmental protection.
Integrated Analysis of Robustness in Dynamic Social Ecological Systems
This project asks: "Why are some socioecological systems more successful in navigating environmental disturbances and change than others?"
Long-Term Coupled Socioecological Change in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico
In this project, archaeologists, mathematical modelers, ecologists, and environmental scientists are applying archaeological and ecological analyses, resilience theory, and formal dynamical modeling to identify variables that foster stability and promote transformation in coupled socioecological systems.
