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
View our latest research stories and profiles:
Ghana’s Informal Residents Show How Social Innovation Can Solve Urban Challenges
A recent paper by Seth Asare Okyere, CAPLA visiting assistant professor of urban planning, and Stephen Kofie Diko, assistant professor at the University of Memphis, argues that the solutions residents in poor, marginalized, informal and crowded urban areas come up with to make everyday urban life livable are a form of social innovation.
Award-Winning Heritage Conservation Efforts by CAPLA Faculty and Students Lead to $4.6M in State Restoration Funding for Buffalo Soldier Camp
CAPLA Heritage Conservation Program Project Director Helen Erickson and graduate students Sarah McDowell and Teresa DeKoker have been instrumental in efforts to preserve Camp Naco, a borderlands Buffalo Soldier camp located near Bisbee, Arizona, resulting in awards for their story map and new funding to preserve the site.
UArizona Researchers Awarded $3.5M to Fight Extreme Heat
A UArizona team led by CAPLA Assistant Professor Ladd Keith is collaborating with researchers from Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University on a $25 million project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, to study the impact of climate change on Arizona's urban areas.
Lecture Recap and Video: June Williamson on 'A Retrofitting Suburbia Agenda for Equity, Health and Resilience to Climate Change'
June Williamson lectures on the urgent challenges produced by northern American suburban form and showcases urban design strategies to mitigate and address these challenges.
With $6M Grant, Researchers Will Explore How Southwest Communities Can Best Adapt to Climate Change
University of Arizona researchers, including CAPLA's Ladd Keith, are furthering their efforts to examine how water, aridity and heat impact communities in the American Southwest thanks to a $6 million grant from NOAA's Climate Adaptation Partnerships program.
CAPLA Student-Faculty Team Uses GIS to Create Digital Atlas and Award-Winning Poster of Historical Buddhist Sites in Hangzhou, China
This spring, MS Urban Planning student Glenn Ingram, recent MLA graduate Mattea Wallace and Associate Professor Philip Stoker, working with UArizona East Asian Studies Professor Jiang Wu, created the “Regional Religious Systems in Hangzhou China” story map using GIS. This fall, Ingram's poster from the project won an award.
Learning as Rich Experience: Sandra Bernal Cordova, Lecturer and UArizona Hispanic Serving Institution Fellow
UArizona Hispanic Serving Institution Fellow Sandra Bernal Cordova, who joined CAPLA in 2018 as a lecturer, uses her built environment research, community service and cross-campus collaborations to inform the classes she teaches and co-teaches, which include Water Efficiency in Building, Equitable Cities and the Sustainable Built Environments Capstone.
Lecture Recap and Video: Seth Okyere on 'Walking the Unwalkable City: An Exploration of Walking Conditions, Experiences and Interventions in the Global South'
Seth Okyere lectures on "Walking the Unwalkable City," a discussion which brings forward conditions and experiences of a walking city that is not walkable and, most importantly, resident improvisations to minimize walking inequities.
Timely, Essential ‘Planning for Urban Heat Resilience’ Report Wins Planning Awards
CAPLA Assistant Professor of Planning and Sustainable Built Environments Ladd Keith and ASU Associate Professor Sara Meerow have been honored with the Western Planner 2022 Sheldon D. Gerber Merit Award for Excellence in Environmental Planning and 2022 APA Arizona Open Category (Applied Research) Award for their Planning for Urban Heat Resilience.
Designing Suburban Futures: June Williamson, Visiting Professor of Architecture
Visiting Professor of Architecture June Williamson has joined CAPLA for the Fall 2022 semester from The City College of New York. Her research focuses on northern American suburban form and its discontents, documenting how underperforming suburban property types and development patterns are being redeveloped, reinhabited or regreened.
Thinking Innovatively: Daniel Kuhlmann, Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development and Planning
Assistant Professor Daniel Kuhlmann joined CAPLA this fall. He has an MA and PhD in Urban Planning from Cornell University and a BA in International Relations from Carleton College. In his research, he focuses on land-use issues, real estate development and the businesses of residential landlords.
Deep Engagement with Local Communities: Seth Asare Okyere, Visiting Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Emerging Faculty Fellow
Seth Asare Okyere joined the college this semester as visiting assistant professor of urban planning as part of CAPLA's inaugural emerging faculty fellow program. Learn more about Seth, including his current research on socio-spatial and environmental aspects of everyday southern urban experiences in relation to social equity and community resilience planning.