The CBE Climate Solutions Community of Practice was featured in a story on the CBE website. See the excerpt below. “Through the materials we use and the ecosystems we alter, arguably more than 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions are related to the built environment,” says Kate Simonen, a professor of architecture at UW’s College of Built Environments and founding director of the Carbon Leadership Forum. Simonen’s primary research focus is reducing the environmental impact of building materials, and she’s been…
Research Theme: Climate & Energy
Scholarship on climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as energy efficiency
Haoyu Yue
Research Interests: Climate change and infrastructure planning, artificial intelligence and data science for social good/urban planning
Milad Ashtiani
Milad Ashtiani is a Building and Materials Researcher with Carbon Leadership Forum. Milad is a civil engineer who received his PhD from the University of Washington in the summer of 2022. Milad is responsible for the execution of research and analysis, development of guidance documents and educational resources, and outreach across the design community to improve the quality, accuracy, and effectiveness of building performance tools, methods and data that address embodied carbon. As a building and materials researcher, Ashtiani works collaboratively with CLF’s internal research team as well as with architecture and engineering firms and research consortiums across North America with a focus on building performance, computation, embodied carbon assessments, and life cycle assessment (LCA).
Amos Darko
Dr. Darko brings with him a wealth of expertise and experience in sustainability, sustainable built environment, sustainable construction, green building, modular construction, project management, and digital technologies including building information modeling and artificial intelligence.
Dr. Darko earned his Ph.D. degree from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in 2019, and his BSc degree (First Class Honors) from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 2014. Before joining the University of Washington, Dr. Darko was a Research Assistant Professor at PolyU.
Dr. Darko has published numerous papers in leading international peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and books. His papers have been rated as highly cited and hot papers by the Web of Science. His paper is the most cited paper of all time in the International Journal of Construction Management. He has also been ranked among the world’s top 2% most cited scientists by Elsevier BV and Stanford University. Dr. Darko has received several awards for his outstanding work, including the Green Talents Award from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in 2020, the Global Top Peer Reviewer Award from the Web of Science Group in 2019, the Outstanding Overseas Young Scholars Award from Central South University in 2019, and the Best Construction Technology and Management Student Award from KNUST in 2014.
Dr. Darko’s work has been supported by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, Chief Secretary for Administration’s Office of Hong Kong, and several internal grants.
Dr. Darko is an Associate Editor of Green Building and Construction Economics, an Associate Editor of Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, and an Academic Editor of Advances in Civil Engineering.
“I am excited to collaborate with colleagues from diverse disciplines to tackle the pressing challenges of sustainability and climate change, and to contribute to shaping a more just and beautiful world,” said Dr. Darko.
Integration of Urban Science and Urban Climate Adaptation Research: Opportunities to Advance Climate Action
Lobo, J., Aggarwal, R. M., Alberti, M., Allen-Dumas, M., Bettencourt, L. M. A., Boone, C., Brelsford, C., Broto, V. C., Eakin, H., Bagchi-Sen, S., Meerow, S., D’Cruz, C., Revi, A., Roberts, D. C., Smith, M. E., York, A., Lin, T., Bai, X., Solecki, W., … Gauthier, N. (2023). Integration of urban science and urban climate adaptation research: opportunities to advance climate action. Npj Urban Sustainability, 3(1), 32–39. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-023-00113-0
Abstract
There is a growing recognition that responding to climate change necessitates urban adaptation. We sketch a transdisciplinary research effort, arguing that actionable research on urban adaptation needs to recognize the nature of cities as social networks embedded in physical space. Given the pace, scale and socioeconomic outcomes of urbanization in the Global South, the specificities and history of its cities must be central to the study of how well-known agglomeration effects can facilitate adaptation. The proposed effort calls for the co-creation of knowledge involving scientists and stakeholders, especially those historically excluded from the design and implementation of urban development policies.
EarthLab 2023-2024 Innovation Grant awardees
EarthLab selected the 2023-2024 Innovation Grant Awardees in April 2023. One of the projects chosen includes College of Built Environments researchers on the interdisciplinary team. The project description and research team is detailed below. “Cultivating Transdisciplinary Support for Equitable and Resilient Floodplain Solutions” Project Description: In 2021 a massive flood on the Nooksack River left a trail of destruction in its wake. Floods are the most expensive natural hazard in Washington State, a risk that is exacerbated by climate change….
College of Built Environments Faculty and Student receive Husky Sustainability Awards 2023
The Husky Sustainability Awards recognize individuals and groups across all University of Washington campuses who lead the way for sustainability at the University of Washington. This is the 14th year awards have been given by the UW Environmental Stewardship Committee. The Husky Sustainability Awards are given to students, faculty and staff from the Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses who show impact, initiative, leadership and dedication around sustainability. Congratulations to the recipients from the College of Built Environments, who are listed below….
Does Compact Development Mitigate Urban Thermal Environments? Influences of Smart Growth Principles on Land Surface Temperatures in Los Angeles and Portland
Won, Jongho, and Meen Chel Jung. 2023. Does Compact Development Mitigate Urban Thermal Environments? Influences of Smart Growth Principles on Land Surface Temperatures in Los Angeles and Portland. Sustainable Cities and Society 90.
Abstract
The smart growth paradigm has emerged as a major planning framework to respond to the adverse outcomes of reckless development, but its influences on urban thermal environments are underexplored in the scholarly literature. Since elevated land surface temperature (LST) is closely related to the physical expansion of developed areas, it is necessary to identify the effects of smart growth strategies on LST. This study, therefore, investigated the relationships between LST, landscape variables, and smart growth variables at the census block group level in two distinct urban locales: the City of Los Angeles, California, and the City of Portland, Oregon, from 2010 to 2018. Through multivariate analyses—including the principal component analysis (PCA), K-means clustering, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and regression models—this study revealed the potential of urban forms promoted by the smart growth principles comprehensively to mitigate LST. Given the different features of built environments and planning systems between the two cities, the results of this study also indicate the necessity of considering local contexts rather than suggesting a “one-size-fits-all” policy.
Keywords
Smart growth; Compact development; Land surface temperature; Urban form; Landscape
Don’t take concrete for granite: the secret research life of CBE Department of Construction Management Assistant Professor and concrete materials researcher Fred Aguayo
Concrete can sequester carbon, and the cement that glues its components together has been used since antiquity. Now, CBE professor Fred Aguayo is introducing students to the complex world of concrete research.
College of Built Environments Announces 2023 Inspire Fund Awards
In 2021, the College of Built Environments launched the CBE Inspire Fund to “inspire” CBE research activities that are often underfunded, but for which a relatively small amount of support can be transformative. The Inspire Fund aims to support research where arts and humanities disciplines are centered, and community partners are engaged in substantive ways. Inspire Fund is also meant to support ‘seed’ projects, where a small investment in early research efforts may serve as a powerful lever for future…