Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) International Project Office

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Urban studies have a long tradition in the social sciences, engineering sciences, and planning. Contributions from the natural sciences and health sciences recently have expanded knowledge about urban issues. Absent thus far has been a framework that integrates these disciplinary contributions. An interdisciplinary approach and an effective network that links researchers from across the globe are essential to understanding the complex interactions among global environmental change and urban processes. A stronger collaboration among academics and policy makers also is needed to craft policies that can mitigate the consequences of those interactions. To meet this need, the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) project was launched in 2005 by International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) on Global Environmental Change. The following year, the International Project Office (IPO) was established at Arizona State University to coordinate and facilitate the work of the project. For the last three years, the UGEC project IPO has been building an expanded international network of scholars and practitioners that work at the interface of urban areas and global environmental change. The UGEC project is envisioned as a ten-year effort designed to enhance knowledge and understanding about the interactions and feedbacks between global environmental change and urbanization at local, regional, and global scales. Toward this end, UGEC assists in developing conceptual frameworks and methods that support the study and analysis of these interactions; it guides the study of the interactions between global environmental change and urban systems with the ultimate goal of contributing to the improvement of decision-making processes directing urban growth; and it identifies the points and strength of interaction, the thresholds for change, and the direction of causality in a coupled human-environment urban system. The IPO seeks to play a catalytic role in the project by facilitating connections between research and public policy by organizing international workshops and conferences and by using communication tools such as a listserv, newsletter, and website. It also will assist in increasing the connections between U.S.-based networks of UGEC scholars and practitioners with their international counterparts. By engaging urban practitioners, decision makers, and stakeholders, the IPO intends to generate an active, collaborative dialogue among members of the UGEC network on both national and international scales. The UGEC project will contribute to the process of creating new interdisciplinary knowledge by encouraging innovative conceptual and methodological approaches that link social sciences with natural science, engineering, planning, and finance. The IPO will communicate these integrative research results to decision makers, practitioners, and other end-users at local, national, and international levels, thus linking cutting-edge academic research to public policy. By bringing together an ever-larger and more diverse group of scholars on global environmental change issues, the IPO will help develop theories, strategies, and methods that foster interdisciplinary research and encourage young scientists to reach across the social-natural science divide.