Sustainable Urban-Rural Futures

NOTE: The SURF Lab will move to the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan in Fall 2023. I am hiring a PhD and Postdoc as part of this move. Read more about the move below and the open positions here. 

We develop advanced urban sustainability analytics to map, measure, and mitigate the environmental impacts of cities.

Cities house the majority of people and wealth. They pull vast quantities of resources from global hinterlands and expel pollution and waste. By doing so, cities degrade the local and distant environments needed by humanity to thrive. Because of their population density and co-location of a wide range of  human activities, cities also provide unique opportunities to use infrastructure and resources more effectively. We believe that cities can become more sustainable.

Our research develops novel methods to quantify and map resource use and environmental impacts of cities. We apply multi-scalar thinking to understand the interconnections between cities and the distal farms, fields, fisheries, forests, mines, factories, and peoples on which they rely and to expand beyond a city-centric conceptualization of urban sustainability. Through clarifying these connections, we can work towards sustainable and just cities that respect people and planet.