Our faculty conduct a wide array of transformative research related to development, planning, design and the built environments.
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Our Research Stories
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Keeping Homes and Cities Cool in Extreme Heat
Planning and Sustainable Built Environments Assistant Professor Ladd Keith, an expert on urban planning and climate change, offers tips to keep your home cool during a heat wave, and discusses how and why cities across the country are doing more to become heat resilient.
Assistant Professor Jonathan Bean Named 2021 CUES Distinguished Fellow for ‘Climate Heroes’ Curriculum
Architecture and Sustainable Built Environments Assistant Professor Jonathan Bean has been named one of four 2021 CUES Distinguished Fellows by UArizona’s Center for University Education Scholarship. His project, Climate Heroes: Transforming the Built Environment, addresses the fundamental challenge of our time: climate change.
Planning and Sustainable Built Environments Professor Ladd Keith Discusses Heat’s Inequitable Impact on Low-Income and Communities of Color in The Washington Post
“Heat is the number-one weather-related killer,” says Ladd Keith in The Washington Post article, “Heat and Smog Hit Low-Income Communities and People of Color Hardest, Scientists Say,” published on May 25, 2021.
Sustainable Design Expert: The Building You're Sitting in is the Elephant in the Room
Assistant Professor of Architecture, Sustainable Built Environments and Marketing Jonathan Bean says buildings are the No. 1 pathway to achieving the Biden administration's new carbon emissions goals. He's training the next generation of architects, and with the College of Engineering creating the Climate-Positive Building Lab, to make climate-positive buildings the new normal.
Planning Professor Philip Stoker on How an Infrastructure Bill Can Help Rural Communities in the West
In an article by Deseret News examining possible impacts of an infrastructure bill in the rural West, Philip Stoker speaks to elements contained in President Biden's proposed infrastructure bill, including “soft infrastructure” such as housing.
Sustainable Built Environments Faculty Provide Insight on New Study of Urban Heat Disparities in Tucson and Other Western Cities
New research on neighborhood-by-neighborhood heat differences across Tucson—and 19 other cities in the West—has garnered additional insight by Assistant Professor of Planning and Sustainable Built Environments Ladd Keith and Assistant Research Scientist Adriana Zuniga.
Dallas, Texas Turns to CAPLA Planning and Sustainable Built Environments Professor and ULI for Guidance Following Natural Disasters
Ladd Keith, assistant professor of planning and sustainable built environments, chaired the Urban Land Institute Advisory Services Panel that evaluated and made recommendations on rebuilding a Dallas neighborhood following a devastating tornado. Keith also provided insight into the recent Texas power grid failure.
Harvesting Sunlight and Plant Power on UArizona's Greenest Building
New solar panels and a rooftop garden on the university's ENR2 building, a project headed by a team that includes Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture Kirk Dimond and Professor of Landscape Architecture Margaret Livingston, not only generate electricity but also create unique environmental research opportunities.
Research by Assistant Planning Professor Philip Stoker Provides Context for Deseret News Story on Housing Affordability and Other Challenges in ‘Gateway Communities’
In an examination of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Springdale, Utah, Deseret News asks: What to do when your small town is overrun by the rich? CAPLA Assistant Professor Philip Stoker’s research provides insight.
Forbes Housing Affordability Story References Research by Urban Planning and Real Estate Development Professor Arthur C. Nelson
Research on “missing middle housing” conducted by CAPLA Professor Arthur C. Nelson forms the basis for analysis in a February 2021 Forbes magazine story on how innovation can help offset America’s lack of affordable housing.
Research by Architecture Professor Courtney Crosson Shows that Neighborhood Farms Could be the Answer to Tucson's 'Food Deserts'
A study co-authored by Assistant Professor of Architecture Courtney Crosson makes a strong case that even in arid climates, urban farms can help neighborhoods get the nutritious food they need if the farms are irrigated in a sustainable way.
Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning Professor Bo Yang Awarded Research Grant to Examine Spatial Patterns of Green Infrastructure
Awarded to Yang and three other researchers, the four-year grant by the National Natural Science Foundation of China explores green infrastructure interactions with microclimate and stormwater at the urban block level.