Urban Sustainability Research Group

Urban Sustainability Research Group

The social anatomy of climate change denial in the United States

In this study we used Twitter data (2017–2019) to: (i) estimate the prevalence of climate change denialism at the state and county levels; (ii) identify typical profiles of climate change deniers; (iii) understand how social media promulgates climate change denialism through key influencers; and (iv) determine how world events are leveraged to promulgate attitudes about climate change.

Comparing the carbon footprints of urban and conventional agriculture

This Article addresses these gaps through carbon footprint analysis of low-tech UA, covering 73 sites in France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States, using data collected through citizen science14,15. We assessed the carbon footprint across the lifecycle of producing food at three types of low-tech UA: urban farms (professionally managed, focused on food production), individual gardens (small plots managed by single gardeners) and collective gardens (communal spaces managed by groups of gardeners). We estimated embodied GHGs and synthetic nutrient footprints of food from UA and compared these to conventional agricultural products sold in each of our five countries.

Do corporate decarbonization initiatives matter as much as state and local government policy?

This is the first study to disaggregate corporate GHG reporting from CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project), down to the facility level to analyze the respective roles of corporate initiatives and subnational public policies in driving corporate decarbonization in the United States from 2010 to 2019.

Deforestation, certification, and transnational palm oil supply chains: Linking Guatemala to global consumer markets

This study used remote sensing and spatial analysis to assess the deforestation (2009–2019) caused by oil palm plantation expansion in Guatemala, a major palm oil source for international consumer markets.

About the Group

Formed in 2010, the Urban Sustainability Research Group is devoted to developing and fostering an integrated, holistic vision for urban sustainability and resilience. This emphasis stems from the conviction that to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to address global ecological crises, we need to fundamentally reshape and redesign our urban areas — where more than half of the world’s population already lives, works, and consumes.

Research at a Glance

The group’s research is organized around four themes.

  • Urban Resilience
  • Urban-Rural Resource and Commodity Flows
  • Green Infrastructure
  • Political-Industrial Ecology

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The Team

The group is directed by Joshua Newell and brings together faculty, staff, post-docs, students, and researchers from many fields. We work in close collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Systems and the Global Supply Chain Intelligence Institute at the University of Michigan.

Meet the team

Support

Research in the group has been supported by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Office of Naval Research, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and a range of philanthropic and corporate partners including the Kresge Foundation, Ford Motor Company, and the Fulbright Scholar Program.

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Impact

  • 1,011 news stories
  • 379+ policy citations
  • 38 countries
  • 66 journal articles

Research from the group has been cited in more than 379 policy documents, including the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and covered in 1,011 news stories across 38 countries.

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Contact

For general inquiries, contact Shannon Sears at [email protected].

Prospective students and postdoctoral researchers should see Opportunities.