Urban activities greatly impact natural systems. Water, air, nutrient cycling, climate, land-use, and flora and fauna are all affected -- and, in turn, urban systems are affected by nature. ASU's urbanization research examines the complex patterns and dynamics created by interactions between urban and natural systems and the responses at scales ranging from local to global.
Bob Ramsey Executive Education Program
The Bob Ramsey Executive Education Program provides innovative professional development programs and customized services that build the capacity of people and organizations that serve the public. The Certificate in Public Administration for International Leaders includes topics such as leadership, collaboration, public-private partnerships, community conflict resolutions, pollution, urban challenges and opportunities, information technology, and electronic government practices.


Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics
The NSF-funded Engineering Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics (CBBG) focuses on ecologically friendly, cost-effective solutions, inspired by nature, for development and rehabilitation of resilient and sustainable civil infrastructure systems. It serves as a nexus for two transformative trends in engineering: biologically-based design and sustainability.





Center for Sustainable Tourism
The Center for Sustainable Tourism seeks to examine the role and contribution of tourism in the social, cultural, environmental, and economic well-being of communities.







Center for Urban Innovation
The Center for Urban Innovation is the focal point for research on urban affairs in the School of Public Affairs and the College of Public Service & Community Solutions.






Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research
Through interdisciplinary projects integrating natural sciences, social science, and engineering, the Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research project examines the effects of urbanization on a desert ecosystem and vice versa.











Decision Center for a Desert City
The Decision Center for a Desert City conducts climate, water, and decision research and develops innovative tools to bridge the boundary between scientists and decision makers and put their work into the hands of those whose concern is for the sustainable future of Greater Phoenix.





Decision Theater
The Decision Theater Network actively engages researchers and leaders to visualize solutions to complex problems. The Network provides the latest expertise in collaborative, computing and display technologies for data visualization, modeling, and simulation. The Network addresses cross-disciplinary local, national and international issues by drawing on Arizona State University’s diverse academic and research capabilities.

EASM-3: Collaborative Research: Physics-based Predictive Modeling for Integrated Agricultural and Urban Applications
A collaborative and interdisciplinary team from Arizona State University and the National Center for Atmospheric Research jointly develops integrated agricultural and urban models necessary to examine hydroclimatic impacts and economic and social benefits/tradeoffs associated with agricultural and urban land use/cover changes accompanying localization of food production within cities.

Ecosystem Response to N and Organic C Deposition from the Urban Atmosphere
The "Urban Air" project studies the exchange of chemical elements between land and atmosphere in urban systems.




Metis Center for Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering
The Metis Center seeks to provide the basis for understanding, designing, and managing the complex integrated built/human/natural systems that increasingly characterize our planet in the Anthropocene – the Age of Humans. To this end, we combine research, teaching, outreach and public service in an effort to learn how engineered and built systems are integrated with natural and human systems.







Phoenix Area Social Survey
This survey studies the relationships between people and the natural environment in the Phoenix metro area.











Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family
Through research, educational outreach, advocacy and design innovation, the ASU Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family supports organizations, neighborhoods, and professionals in their efforts to improve the growth of quality affordable homes and sustainable communities.
Urban Resilience to Extreme Weather Related Events
Urban areas are vulnerable to extreme weather related events given their location, high concentration of people, and increasingly complex and interdependent infrastructure. Impacts of Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, and other disasters demonstrate not just failures in built infrastructure, they highlight the inadequacy of institutions, resources, and information systems to prepare for and respond to events of this magnitude. The Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) will develop a novel theoretical framework for integrating social, ecological, and technological system (SETS) dimensions for conceptualizing, analyzing, and supporting urban infrastructure decisions in the face of climatic uncertainty in a more holistic way.








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