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:
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.
UArizona Awarded IDEAS Grant from U.S. Department of State's Capacity Building Program for U.S. Study Abroad
The grant, which includes Lecturer of Architecture Sandra Bernal-Cordova, will expand the Navigating Education in Borderlands Program (NEBP), a program through which UArizona students can build cultural competencies and learn about the history, people and culture from the intersecting borderlands area.
Architectural History Professor Lisa D. Schrenk Publishes Critically Acclaimed Book on the Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright
The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright by Lisa D. Schrenk offers the first comprehensive look at the early independent office and career of one of the world’s most influential architects.
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.
A Form of Meditation: Robert Miller, Director, School of Architecture and Professor of Architecture
Robert Miller, who joined CAPLA in 2010 as director of the School of Architecture, is stepping down as school director in June 2022. Learn more about Miller's experience at UArizona and before, as well as his passion for drawing, insight on academic administration and more.
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.
Dwelling in Meaning: Laura Hollengreen, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Architecture
Laura Hollengreen, who has worked at CAPLA twice in her career, is researching theories of virtual and augmented reality to understand how some effects of digital media today were foreshadowed by immersive techniques in art and architecture of the past, especially medieval art, her area of expertise.
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.