Sustainable Urban Systems

Read the full UT Austin NSF SUS Conference Report.

On August 22-24, 2019 the University of Texas at Austin hosted a Sustainable Urban Systems conference entitled “Challenges to and Opportunities for Developing Resilience in Rapidly Growing Urban Corridors in Semi-Arid Regions.”

Changing climate, rapid urbanization, and the projected addition of 2.5 billion humans over the next 25 years has delivered civilization into a new socio-ecological paradigm.

Urban areas occupy only 3-4% of global land area, yet they exert disproportionate and confounding effects on the sustainability of the environment, economy, and social equity.
The world’s 50 largest cities draw upon watersheds that occupy 41% of the world’s land surface.
Urban areas contribute more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

To address these challenging circumstances, the National Science Foundation has identified six key elements for Sustainable Urban Systems (SUS) Science:

Developing new data and methods to understand current drivers and interactions between natural, human, and social subsystems
Developing the science to assess the sustainability outcomes nexus in urban systems
Understanding the levers for change in diverse urban systems
Advancing comparative studies, typology studies, and scalability studies
Developing the science to model the future of SUS science
Developing the science of knowledge co-production among researchers, industry, communities, and government

Download the UT Austin NSF SUS Conference Agenda.

Presentations

Big data and urban informatics, spatial planning, and participatory policy exploration.
Moira Zellner, University of Illinois at Chicago
Listen to the presentation.
View the presentation slides.

The structure of civic technologies and their impacts on quality of life and social equity.
Bev Wilson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Listen to the presentation.
View the presentation slides.

Fuzzy cognitive mapping, stakeholder engagement, and participatory modeling.
Antonie Jetter, Portland State University
Listen to the presentation.
View the presentation slides.

Processes and feedbacks in the natural/urban environment, and unintended positive consequences of urbanization.
Michael Webber, University of Texas at Austin

Panels

Assessing the needs of regional stakeholders.
Moderator: Sarah Rountree Schlessinger, Texas Water Foundation
Panelist: Marilu Hastings, Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Panelist: Marisa Flores Gonzalez, Austin Water Utility, Water Forward Program
Panelist: Robert Puente, San Antonio Water System
Panelist: Katherine Romans, Hill Country Alliance
Listen to the discussion – Part 1.
Listen to the discussion – Part 2.

Lessons learned from successful stakeholder-driven partnerships: How do we upscale effective programs into larger ecosystems?
Moderator: Auroop Ganguly, Northeastern University
Panelist: Marta Gonzalez, University of California Berkeley
Panelist: Sarah Rountree Schlessinger, Texas Water Foundation
Panelist: Laura Schmitt-Olabisi, Michigan State University
Panelist: Chris Herrington, City of Austin
Listen to the discussion – Part 1.
Listen to the discussion – Part 2.

Identifying emerging challenges in Big Data, Integrated Modeling, and Stakeholder-driven research; What would success mean to us as a newly-formed research collective?
Moderator: Ashlynn Stillwell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Panelist: Kent Portney, Texas A&M University
Panelist: Suzanne Pierce, University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center
Panelist: Rebecca Jordan, Michigan State University
Listen to the discussion.

Case study-based approach to solving controversial problems using Big Data, Integrated Models, and Co-Designed Research Initiatives.
Facilitators: Steven Gray, Kasey Faust, Suzanne Pierce

Understanding Convergence and Divergence in Disciplinary Perspectives of Sustainable Urban Systems over time through Mental Model Change.
Facilitators: Steven Gray, Kasey Faust, Suzanne Pierce

Identifying leverage points to deal with pressing problems and domain general processes.
Facilitators: Steven Gray, Kasey Faust, Suzanne Pierce

Organizing Committee

Jay Banner, Professor of Geological Sciences, Director Environmental Science Institute
The University of Texas at Austin
banner@jsg.utexas.edu

Patrick Bixler, Assistant Professor of Practice, LBJ School of Public Affairs
The University of Texas at Austin
rpbixler@utexas.edu

Kasey Faust, Assistant Professor of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
faustk@utexas.edu

Auroop Ganguly, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Director, Sustainability and Data Sciences Laboratory
Northeastern University
auroop@gmail.com

Dev Niyogi, Professor of Atmospheric Science
Purdue University
dniyogi@purdue.edu

Suzanne Pierce, Research Scientist, Texas Advanced Computing Center
The University of Texas at Austin
spierce@tacc.utexas.edu

Ashlynn Stillwell, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
ashlynn@illinois.edu

Darrel Tremaine, Research Coordinator, Environmental Science Institute
The University of Texas at Austin
darrel.tremaine@jsg.utexas.edu

Attendees

David Allen, Professor of Chemical Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
allen@che.utexas.edu

McKenzie Beverage, Senior Academic Program Coordinator, Environmental Science Institute
The University of Texas at Austin
m.beverage@austin.utexas.edu

Marc Coudert, Environmental Conservation Program Manager
City of Austin, Texas
marc.coudert@austintexas.gov

Daniel DeCaro, Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Public Affairs
University of Louisville
daniel.decaro@louisville.edu

Marisa Flores Gonzalez, Project Manager
Austin Water Utility
marisa.flores@austintexas.gov

Marta Gonzalez, Associate Professor City & Regional Planning
University of California, Berkeley
martag@berkeley.edu

Steven Gray, Associate Professor, Department of Community Sustainability
Michigan State University
stevenallangray@gmail.com

Robert Greer, Assistant Professor & Director, Graduate Certificate in Public Management
The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University
rgreer1@exchange.tamu.edu

Marilu Hastings, Vice President of Sustainability Programs
Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
mhastings@cgmf.org

Chris Herrington, Environmental Officer
City of Austin, Texas
chris.herrington@austintexas.gov

Charles Jackson, Research Scientist, Institute for Geophysics
The University of Texas at Austin
charles@ig.utexas.edu

Antonie Jetter, Associate Professor of Engineering and Technology Management
Portland State University
ajetter@pdx.edu

Shalene Jha, Associate Professor, Integrative Biology
The University of Texas at Austin
sjha@austin.utexas.edu

Rebecca Jordan, Professor and Chair, Department of Community Sustainability
Michigan State University
jordanre@msu.edu

Fernanda Leite, Associate Professor, Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
fernanda.leite@austin.utexas.edu

Phil Levin, Professor of Practice, Environmental and Forest Sciences
University of Washington
phillip.levin@tnc.org

Jonathan Lowell, Communication Officer for Planet Texas 2050
The University of Texas at Austin
jonathan.t.lowell@utexas.edu

Robert Mace, Professor of Practice & Chief Water Policy Officer
Texas State University
robertmace@txstate.edu

Sara Meerow, Assistant Professor of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning
Arizona State University
sara.meerow@asu.edu

Peter Merwin, Principal
Gensler Corporation
peter_merwin@gensler.com

John Neilsen-Gammon, Professor and Texas State Climatologist
Texas A&M University
n-g@tamu.edu

Jenny Nelson Gray, Director, Planet Texas 2050
The University of Texas at Austin
j.gray@austin.utexas.edu

Meagan Norris, Supervising Engineer
Austin Watershed Protection Department
meagan.norris@austintexas.edu

Kent Portney, Professor, Bob Bullock Chair of Public Policy and Finance & Director, Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy
The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University
kportney@tamu.edu

Robert Puente, Chief Executive Officer
San Antonio Water System

Varun Rai, Associate Professor & Associate Dean for Research, LBJ School of Public Affairs
The University of Texas at Austin
varun.rai@mail.utexas.edu

Katherine Romans, Executive Director
Hill Country Alliance
katherine@hillcountryalliance.org

Sarah Schlessinger, Executive Director
Texas Water Foundation
sarah@texaswater.org

Laura Schmitt-Olabisi, Associate Professor, Department of Community Sustainability
Michigan State University
schmi420@msu.edu

Stefan Schuster, Chief Marketing Officer, EQO
Senior Hydrologist, Aqua Strategies
hydroplan@mac.com

Tyler Scott, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Policy
University of California, Davis
tascott@ucdavis.edu

Joe Smith, Water Resources Engineering Supervisor
Austin Water Utility
joe.smith@austintexas.edu

Courtney Vletas, Associate Director for Development, Jackson School of Geosciences
The University of Texas at Austin
cvletas@jsg.utexas.edu

Jim Walker, Director of Sustainability
The University of Texas at Austin
jim.walker@austin.utexas.edu

Emily Warren, Water Program Officer
Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
ewarren@cgmf.org

Michael Webber, Professor in Energy Resources, Department of Mechanical Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
webber@mail.utexas.edu

Sonya (Sunny) Williams, Program Analyst
National Science Foundation
sowillia@nsf.gov

Bev Wilson, Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
bevwilso@illinois.edu

Michael Young, Professor & Associate Director, Bureau of Economic Geology
The University of Texas at Austin
michael.young@beg.utexas.edu

Moira Zellner, Associate Professor & Director, Urban Data Visualization Laboratory
University of Illinois, Chicago
mzellner@uic.edu