The essential research of the CAPLA faculty goes well beyond the fields of design, development, planning and sustainability to the core of how we can live better lives in the built environment.
Faculty research solves problems, impacts decisions and shapes policy. Read our CAPLA faculty research stories:
How Cities are Battling Extreme Heat, and Why Record-Breaking Temps Don't Tell the Whole Story
CAPLA Assistant Professor Ladd Keith explains how this year's heat wave extends well beyond Phoenix, how cities are addressing extreme heat and why record-breaking temperatures are an incomplete benchmark for understanding the effects of scorching heat.
The Heat Is On This Summer: CAPLA’s Ladd Keith Provides Expert Insight for Sierra Club, Vox, Global Heat Health Information Network and Others
As a leading expert on the impacts of extreme heat on communities, Assistant Professor of Planning and Sustainable Built Environments Ladd Keith is providing new insight for a variety of publications and media outlets this summer.
Bo Yang Named an American Society of Landscape Architects Fellow
Bo Yang, an award-winning professor of landscape architecture and urban planning and associate dean for research in CAPLA, has been named an ASLA Fellow for his "exceptional contributions to the landscape architecture profession and society at large."
How Cities Use Energy to Regulate Temperature—Just Like Mammals
A UArizona undergraduate working with CAPLA's Ladd Keith looked at cities as living things to investigate how human energy use changes with rising temperatures. Her research could help save lives from heat waves.
Architecture Lecturer Bill Mackey’s Book ‘Guess That Arroyo’ Sheds Playful Light on the Tucson Region Watershed
“Arroyos on the desert are magic,” writes CAPLA Lecturer in Architecture Bill Mackey in the introduction to his new bilingual book Guess That Arroyo: Tucson, developed in collaboration with the Watershed Management Group's River Run Network.
PlaceMakers and Strong Towns Turn to Arthur C. Nelson for Insight on How the Shifting 'Boomer Bulge' Impacts America’s Housing Market
Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning and Real Estate Development Arthur C. Nelson was recently featured in a two-part interview for PlaceMakers and in an article in Strong Towns, both focusing on how there may soon be too many homes for too few buyers and renters across the country.
Lecture Recap and Video: Tao Zhang on 'Marginalized Edge Effect: Ecology, Urban Waterfront and Landscapes'
In this CAPLA Lecture Series lecture, Tao Zhang discusses the edge effect and how landscape architecture should protect vulnerable landscape boundaries and help regenerate marginalized edge effects in urban ecology.
Prestigious Graham Foundation Grant Supports Architecture Professor Beth Weinstein's Research on Architecture and Choreography
Thanks in part to a 2022 grant from Chicago-based Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Associate Professor of Architecture Beth Weinstein is synthesizing more than a decade of her research on architecture and dance into a book that “establishes a field of practice, raises many critical questions” and also aims to “inspire people interested in interdisciplinary dialogues.”
Lecture Recap and Video: Fletcher McCusker on 'Rio Nuevo: Catalyst for Tucson's Urban Core'
Fletcher McCusker speaks about the history and impact of tax increment financing districts, and how this tool was used to spur economic growth in Tucson's urban core in this CAPLA Lecture Series lecture.
CAPLA Faculty Collaborate with Salt River Project to Understand Arizona’s Electrified Transportation Network Needs
SRP is funding CAPLA faculty members Bo Yang, professor of landscape architecture and urban planning, and Shujuan Li, associate professor of landscape architecture and planning, to research the planning and design of electric vehicle charging stations. Learn more in this fascinating interview.
Lecture Recap and Video: Jesus M Barajas on 'Equity in Project Prioritization and Planning at State and Regional Transportation Agencies'
Jesus M. Barajas shares findings from research about how departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations are addressing equity in their planning and project prioritization processes in this CAPLA Lecture Series lecture.
CAPLA Professor on Heat Mitigation and Management in the Southwest and the Broader Workforce
Leading extreme heat expert Ladd Keith, an assistant professor of planning and sustainable built environments in CAPLA, was interviewed for recent articles in The Hill and Arizona Science, an NPR radio program.