Arizona State University assumes fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities we serve. In addition to our education mission, ASU has extensive expertise in engaging at the community level, enabling the university to interact with local stakeholders in a local setting, yet providing scalable education and solutions at the regional, national and international scale.
Co-operative planning for climate change disasters
Through a broad range of multidisciplinary programs and departments and as a university body, Arizona State University provides ongoing programs and campaigns related to identifying and reducing climate change impacts, early warning signs, risks, mitigation/adaptation, such as in the area of heat/urban heat island effect, flooding, and drought.
Hazards and Disasters XChange Collaboratory
HDxCC works with practitioners to co-develop creative solutions to common and new challenges in the emergency management and homeland security arena. The Center for Emergency Management & Homeland Security partners with ASU Sustainable Cities Network to host ongoing panel discussions on whole community approaches to climate resilience, mitigation, adaptation, and hazard mitigation planning.
Disaster Science for Sustainability Transition
The Disaster Science for Sustainability Transition (DS4ST) initiative is faculty-led designed to forward the integration of disaster risk management and sustainability transformation through a program of education, transdisciplinary research, and community engagement.
Urban Climate Research Center
UCRC addresses critical issues in the urban atmospheric environment, advancing fundamental knowledge of processes in the urban atmosphere and related interactions among urban systems by supporting and facilitating interdisciplinary research activities of our faculty affiliates.
Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL)
SW-IFL engages regional stakeholders and provides scientists and decision makers with knowledge capable of guiding responses to environmental concerns. The integration of observations, diagnostic/predictive models and civic engagement provides new knowledge and delivers next-generation predictive tools that are regionally specific, but also translatable to other arid regions. Ultimately, the new tools will empower the public to respond to extreme heat, while informing the development and deployment of policies and solutions that are effective, equitable and generalizable.
Disaster mitigation is a collaborative effort
Dr. Emmanuel Salifu, Assistant Professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, on the complexity of climate change problems and the collaborative efforts needed to create solutions.
Project Cities
Project Cities is a university-community partnership, pairing sustainability faculty and students with a city to co-create strategies for better environmental, economic and social balance in the places we live.
Resilience Hubs
ASU’s Knowledge Exchange for Resilience is developing Resilience Hubs which will coordinate the distribution of resources and services before, during and after unforeseen shocks and stressors. The Resilience Hubs will also address environmental and energy justice issues and help communities decarbonize in ways that meet their needs.
Climate Resilience Emergency Management Planning at ASU
As climate change accelerates globally and locally, Arizona State University will need to be resilient to a variety of climate impacts, including changing precipitation patterns and drought, flooding and increasing heat and urban heat island effect.
Supporting Preparedness for Extreme Heat
Arizona State University's Knowledge Exchange for Resilience is supporting the State of Arizona to develop a comprehensive plan to be better prepared for the effects of extreme heat.
Supporting governments to identify climate risks
Arizona State University actively partners with local area governments in the cooperative planning associated with disaster and all hazard mitigation planning and climate change. ASU informs and supports governments in local climate change risk early warning and monitoring.
Maricopa County Hazard Mitigation Planning
Every five years, ASU and its survey capabilities are essential to Maricopa County's Multi-jurisdictional All Hazard Mitigation Planning Process.
City of Tempe Climate Action Plan
Arizona State University provided technical assistance and partnership to develop the City of Tempe Climate Action Plan. The plan was developed as a collaboration between the City of Tempe and ASU's School of Sustainability.
Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database
SHELDUS™ is a county-level hazard data set for the U.S. and covers natural hazards such thunderstorms, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and tornadoes as well as perils such as flash floods, heavy rainfall, etc. Regularly used by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the database contains information on the date of an event, affected location (county and state) and the direct losses caused by the event (property and crop losses, injuries, and fatalities) from 1960 to present.
Arizona State Climatologist
The Arizona State Climatologist serves the people and state of Arizona through an executive appointment funded by Arizona State University. A focus of the State Climate Office is to evaluate and synthesize climate data and scientific research to provide context and relevancy about the climate of Arizona.
Arizona Water Blueprint
A data-rich, interactive map of Arizona’s water resources and infrastructure, developed by ASU's Kyl Center for Water Policy. Created in consultation with over 200 experts in water, land use, environmental and economic development, and offering data visualizations and in-depth multimedia content on important water-related topics, the Water Blueprint a tool for holistic thinking to inform policy decisions and good water stewardship.
Collaboration with NGOs to adapt to a changing climate
ASU-Conservation International Partnership
The partnership launched in September 2016 with the hire of six ASU-CI Professors of Practice. The partnership has since evolved to align with the ASU Global Future Laboratory and its mission to design implementable options to sustain global habitability and improve well-being for all humankind. The partnership currently focuses on oceans and negative emissions.
Solutions-Focused Partnerships
ASU is a significant contributor in providing urgently needed sustainability interventions. We are committed to partnerships based on equitable participation and respect for the contributions of other organizations, companies, governments, NGOs, universities and other partners globally.
Sustainable Cities Network
SCN collaborates with local communities to address sustainability issues such as mitigating/adapting to the urban heat island, deploying solar energy, designing more sustainable neighborhoods, and securing water supplies in a changing climate. Working together, Network partners are making sustainability a core value in city planning, policy, and operations.
Heat Preparedness and Resilience Workgroup
The overall objectives of the workgroup, as well as its Cooling Centers subgroup, are to ensure cities and counties have weather data they need, share approaches to heat relief and share communications strategies and resources, and connect cities and counties to regional and state resources and information.
Climate and Resilience Workgroup
SCN hosts an ongoing Climate and Resilience Workgroup for local municipal practitioners. The workgroup meets to educate cities and towns on climate action planning, resilience, and adaptation and mitigation strategies.