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Research Theme: Natural Resources & Sustainability

Use or conservation of resources as well as broader notions of sustainability in the built environment

PhD in the Built Environment

The College of Built Environments consists of five departments that together provide one of the country’s few comprehensive built environment programs within one academic unit: Architecture, Construction Management, Landscape Architecture, Real Estate, and Urban Design and Planning. Together, this combination of departments enable faculty and students to engage almost the entire development process, from economic and environmental planning, real estate, regulatory processes, siting and design, through actual financing and construction, to facility management and adaptive reuse in subsequent stages. Thus, the college is inherently multi-disciplinary, not only in terms of the dimensions of reality that it treats, but also in regard to the specialized disciplines, methods, and practices that it employs: history, theory, cultural criticism, engineering, design, planning, urban design, energy sciences, acoustics, lighting, environmental psychology, ecology, real estate analysis, statistics, management, horticulture, soil science, law, public policy, and ethics. In addition, because of the College’s focus on comprehensive analysis and practice concerning the built environment and its interrelation with society, it is substantially engaged in interdisciplinary work with other units on campus and outside of the campus, including mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering; with public policy and the health sciences; with art and art history; with textual interpretation in the humanities; with many of the computing and digitization activities that range from digital arts to the information school and technical communications; with education and social studies and services; with sustainability and ecological programs, including urban ecology, geography, the College of Forest Resources (especially urban horticulture and urban forestry), and Ocean Science and Fisheries; with environmental and land use law.

The College’s interdisciplinary character is a good fit with the emerging trends in today’s complex world, where only a pluralistic and collaborative approach will generate the necessary learning and teaching, research, and service. If we are to provide, in the end, both disciplinary and professional means to promote environmental well-being, the diverse environmental specializations must be fully integrated. Thus, working outside traditional disciplinary and departmental categories, the College’s faculty will advance solutions to problems that demand interdisciplinary perspectives and expertise. Other UW units bring much to bear on the built environment and students are wholeheartedly encouraged to explore possible cross-campus connections both in obvious and seemingly unlikely places. The Technology and Project Design/Delivery specialization especially connects with Psychology, the Information School, Technical Communication, Computer Science and Engineering, and Industrial Engineering; the Sustainable Systems and Prototypes field with Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, the Information School, Technical Communication, the College of Forest Resources (especially Eco-System Science and Conservation, Urban Horticulture and Urban Forestry), the Evans School of Public Affairs, Geography, Public Health, Ocean Science and Fisheries, and Social Work, Urban Ecology, and perhaps Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processes and Nanotechnology; the area of History, Theory, and Representation with Textual Studies, Art History, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at Tacoma, and Comparative History of Ideas.

Urban Design & Planning Interdisciplinary PhD

The Urban Design & Planning Interdisciplinary Ph.D. at the University of Washington is one of 39 Ph.D. programs in urban and regional planning in North America, and one of the oldest, founded in 1967.

This program brings together faculty from disciplines ranging from Architecture to Sociology to focus on the interdisciplinary study of urban problems and interventions. Covering scales from neighborhoods to metropolitan areas, the program addresses interrelationships between the physical environment, the built environment, and the social, economic, and political institutions and processes that shape urban areas. The breadth of this program permits students to pursue doctoral studies in the various aspects of urban design and planning as well as in a number of related social science, natural resource, and engineering areas.

The Program seeks to prepare scholars who can advance the state of research, practice, and education related to the built environment and its relationship to society and nature in metropolitan regions throughout the world. The program provides a strong interdisciplinary educational experience that draws on the resources of the entire University, and on the laboratory provided by the Seattle metropolitan region and the Pacific Northwest. The program emphasizes the educational values of interdisciplinarity, intellectual leadership and integrity, and the social values of equity, democracy and sustainability. It seeks to promote deeper understanding of the ways in which public decisions shape and are shaped by the urban physical, social, economic, and natural environment. The program envisions its graduates becoming leaders in the international community of researchers, practitioners and educators who focus on improving the quality of life and environment in metropolitan regions.

Keith Harris

Harris’ research hovers around critical urban theory and investigates the political, economic, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions of the urbanization process. An erstwhile civil engineer, he writes on complex and contradictory landscapes and infrastructure, such as South Lake Union, the Elliott Bay Seawall, and the Los Angeles River, but also about grassroots urban politics in our region and he translates critical theory and fiction that relates to the built environment from French and Spanish into English. This range of research corresponds, in part, to his wide variety of teaching experiences over the last decade in all of the CBE departments (except real estate), in the School of Urban Studies at UW-Tacoma, and especially in the Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) department on our campus.

Energy & Sustainability in Construction (ESC) Lab

The Energy and Sustainability in Construction (ESC) Lab promotes energy efficiency and sustainability (EES) in the built environment through the development of sustainable design, innovative project delivery practices, and risk-based financial models for EES investments. Our work focuses on integrating advanced financial analysis, project development, and management strategies to enhance the delivery of energy-efficient buildings and sustainable infrastructure.
Through innovative solutions, the ESC Lab addresses complex challenges in current project development practices that slow the transition toward a more sustainable society. Our research spans a wide range of critical areas, including commercial energy retrofits, community solar projects, green datacenters, healthy commercial buildings, and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. By tackling these pressing issues, the ESC Lab is at the forefront of driving transformative changes in the built environment.

Financial and Management Questions that Lead to Sustainable Solutions

The ESC Lab targets to help project stakeholders evaluate the risks and rewards of energy efficiency and sustainability (EES) investments by addressing some of the industry’s most pressing financial and management challenges, including:

  • What policies, financing mechanisms, and project delivery systems best support the advancement of EES?
  • How can we categorize and accurately model the unique risks associated with EES investments?
  • What analytical modeling methods can be applied to ensure the effective implementation of EES measures in projects?
  • How can we optimize investment strategies to balance environmental benefits with financial returns?
  • What best practices can enhance stakeholder engagement and collaboration to drive successful EES project outcomes?

Pursuing Innovative Solutions to Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

The ESC Lab has developed a series of analytical models and evaluation practices that facilitate the effective delivery of energy-efficient commercial buildings and sustainable infrastructure, including:

  • Cost and power demand model for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure
  • Conceptual cost and carbon estimating model for mass timber structure
  • Energy-Related Risk Management in Integrated Project Delivery
  • Phased Investment for Energy Retrofit (PIER)
  • Energy Retrofit Loan Analysis Model (ERLAM)
  • An optimized portfolio analysis for community-based photovoltaic investment

ESC Research Funders and Selected Projects:

  • UW Clean Energy Institute: “Equitable Public Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Expansion—From the Tribal Community Perspective”
  • King County Metro–Sound Transit–Seattle City Light: “Electrified Mobility Hubs: A Blueprint for the Future of Transit Infrastructure”
  • UW Global Innovation Fund: “Mitigating Effects of Future Pandemics with the Use of Risk-Responsive Building Codes: A Developing Country Framework”
  • King County Metro: “Evaluation of a Public/Private Partnership (P3) Model for Bus Base Electrification”
  • UW CBE INSPIRE Fund: “Investigating the Health Requirements and Risk-Responsiveness Criteria in Office Building Codes for Mitigating COVID-19 and Future Airborne Diseases”
  • UW CBE INSPIRE Fund: “Investigating Energy Justice in Washington State in Terms of Photovoltaic (PV) Systems and Electric Vehicle (EV) Chargers”
  • Google: “A Proposal to Grow a Greener Data Center with Google”
  • UW Population Health: “Economic Impact of Office Workplace Transformation due to COVID-19: How Can Buildings and Surrounding Areas Recover?”
  • UW Transportation: “UW Transportation Electrification and Solar Study”
  • RERI–LBNL–DOE: “Effect of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure on Office Building Marketability”
  • Pankow–Skanska–Oregon DEQ: “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Low Carbon Construction Commercial Office Building MEP & Interiors Data”
  • BE Innovation: “Impact of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure on the Performance of Office Buildings”

Selected Journal Publications:

  • Min, Y. and Lee, H.W. (2024). “Adoption Inequalities and Causal Relationship between Residential Electric Vehicle Chargers and Heat Pumps.” ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 04024025.
  • Min, Y. and Lee, H.W. (2024). “Quantifying Clean Energy Justice: Impact of Solarize Programs on Rooftop Solar Disparities in the Pacific Northwest.” Sustainable Cities and Society, 105287.
  • Shang, L., Dermisi, S., Choe, Y., Lee, H.W., and Min, Y. (2023). “Assessing the Office Building Marketability Before and After the Implementation of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure Policies – Lessons Learned from Major US Cities.” Sustainability, 15(11), 8883.
  • Min, Y. and Lee, H.W. (2023). “Characterization of Vulnerable Communities in Terms of the Benefits and Burdens of the Energy Transition in Pacific Northwest Cities.” Journal of Cleaner Production, 135949.
  • Min, Y., Lee, H.W., and Hurvitz, P.M.  (2023). “Clean Energy Justice: Different Adoption Characteristics of Underserved Communities in Rooftop Solar and Electric Vehicle Chargers in Seattle.” Energy Research and Social Science, 96(1), 102931.
  • Su, S., Li, X., Zhu, C., Lu, Y., and Lee, H.W. (2021). “Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment: A Review of Research for Temporal Variations in Life Cycle Assessment Studies.” Environmental Engineering Science, 38(11).
  • Droguett, B. X. R., Huang, M., Lee, H.W., Simonen, K., and Ditto, J. (2020). “Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Tenant Improvements Over the Building Lifetime: Estimating Material Quantities and Embodied Carbon for Climate Change Mitigation.” Energy and Buildings, 226, 110324.
  • Ho, C., Lee, H.W., and Gambatese, J. (2020). “Application of Prevention through Design (PtD) to Improve the Safety of Solar Installations on Small Buildings.” Safety Science, 125, 104633.
  • Gomez Cunya, L.A., Fardhosseini, M.S., Lee, H.W., and Choi, K. (2020). “Analyzing Investments in Flood Protection Structures: A Real Options Approach.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 43(2), 101377.
  • Shang, L., Lee H.W., Dermisi, S., and Choe, Y., (2020). “Impact of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure Policy on Office Buildings.” Journal of Cleaner Production, 250, 119500.
  • Shakouri, M., Lee, H.W., and Kim, Y.-W. (2017). “A Probabilistic Portfolio-based Model for Financial Valuation of Community Solar.” Applied Energy, 191(1), 709-726.
  • Shakouri, M. and Lee, H.W. (2016). “Mean-Variance Portfolio Analysis Data for Optimizing Community-based Photovoltaic Investment.” Data in Brief, 6(1), 840-842.\

Current and Former Lab Members:

  • Abdul-Razak Alidu
  • Byungju Jeon
  • Chitika Vasudeva
  • Yohan Min
  • Matt Wiggins
  • Novi T.I. Bramono
  • Yong-Hyuk Oh
  • Chuou Zhang
  • Jonghyeob Kim
  • Wenqi Zhu
  • Julie Knorr
  • Zhila Mohammady

 

Jen Davison

Jen Davison (she/her) is the Project Director of Community Engagement for University Initiatives, leading efforts to increase and improve institutional capacity for community engagement across the UW. Until last fall, for 8 years Jen was director of Urban@UW, a UW-wide initiative that fosters cross-disciplinary and community engaged research to address urban challenges. She continues to serve as the Co-Director of Urban@UW’s Research to Action Collaboratory, an accelerator program for community-engaged research partnerships.

Davison has been building boundary-spanning infrastructure within higher education for over a decade. She joined University of Washington’s College of the Environment in 2010 and founded its science communication program, which provides opportunities, training, and support for college researchers to connect their research to non-science communities through communication, outreach and engagement. Davison joined Urban@UW in 2015, and co-led strategies and programs to address complex challenges such as housing and homelessness; urban environmental justice; and equitable smart cities. She was the founding program manager for Livable City Year in 2016, which connects faculty and students with municipal governments for collaborative projects. From 2017-2019 she co-chaired UW-Seattle’s Carnegie Classification Working Group, charged to assess the campus’ support for community engagement at all levels, from curricular programs to faculty incentive structures to fundraising processes and beyond. In 2020 Davison served as the foundational program manager for the College of Built Environments’ Applied Research Consortium, connecting faculty and students with industrial partners for collaborative research. From 2021-2022 she was the College of Built Environments’ Director of Research, charged to foster a culture of research productivity, collaboration, and engagement throughout the college.

 In 2017 Davison participated in the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Community Engagement Fellowship; participated in UW’s Leadership Excellence Project in 2018; and was a Leadership Tomorrow Fellow in 2019. From 2018-2023 she served on the Board of Directors for the UW Professional Staff Organization, including as the Vice President and as the chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee. Previous to her role at University of Washington, as a published scientist Davison worked with community partners to understand how wildlife and landscapes are responding to land use and climate change, and to co-develop tools for managing ecosystems threatened by these drivers.

Urban@UW

Urban@UW extends the understanding of cities—from people, buildings, infrastructure, and energy to economics, policy, culture, art, and nature—beyond individual topics to dynamically interdependent systems so that we can holistically design and steward vibrant and welcoming cities in which future generations will thrive.

A partnership between the Office of Research and the College of Built Environments, and engaging colleges, schools, and departments across all three of University of Washington’s campuses, Urban@UW amplifies UW as a leading university in urban issues. Together, we catalyze the evolution of Seattle as a model city—a boundary-pushing laboratory and knowledge hub that leverages innovation to create a place of opportunity and health for all—and build new ideas that can be used in metropolitan regions around the globe. Urban@UW leverages deep understanding, leading-edge analysis, and an ethos of partnership to create the pathway for Seattle as the city of the future.

Urban@UW works with scholars, policymakers, and community stakeholders to develop cross-disciplinary and cross-sector collaborative research. We aim to strengthen connections between research and solutions to today’s urban challenges. We do this through intellectual partnership, drawing upon the many scholars and centers on campus to cultivate new, path-breaking ideas, projects, and research-practice collaborations.

Urban@UW is a large network of scholars and practitioners with leaders and supporters engaging in different projects and initiatives across all three campuses. Supported by the Office of Research and the College of Built Environments as well as external grants and partnerships, the Urban@UW institution-wide community includes our Executive Committee, Urban@UW Fellows, and Urban@UW Affiliates.

Stephanie Carlisle

Stephanie’s work investigates the interaction between the natural and constructed environment, including embodied carbon, life cycle assessment (LCA), urban ecology, landscape performance and supply chains and toxicity of building materials. Combining a background in environmental science and architectural design, she builds bridges between research and practice, bringing data-driven analysis and topical research to complex design problems. This experience will be applied towards improving the EC3 tool as well as other carbon data initiatives at the Carbon Leadership Forum.

She most recently was a Principal at KieranTimberlake Architects where she was an environmental researcher in the firm’s interdisciplinary research group. She is also a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design and a Co-Editor-In-Chief of Scenario Journal.

Meghan Lewis

Meghan uses her background in architecture, supply chain sustainability, and life cycle assessment to pursue broad, system-wide policies and initiatives that support the vision of carbon neutral, circular building material supply chains. Meghan has been an active contributor at the Carbon Leadership Forum, and played a crucial role as a contributing editor to the Practice Guide for the Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings. She also chairs the Building Focus Group in the CLF Online Community. As a staff member she’ll be responsible for leading policy research to support Buy Clean initiatives.

She was recently the Head of Global Energy and Sustainability at WeWork, where she also launched the supply chain sustainability program in 2018 to drive efforts to source sustainable materials across their global portfolio. Before joining WeWork, Meghan was an architect at Mithun, where she worked on a range of project types and developed office-wide sustainability guidelines as part of the firm’s sustainability team. She also led internal efforts to integrate whole building life cycle assessment and low carbon material selection into the design process, through R+D and implementation on active projects.

Julie Kriegh

As principal and founder of KRIEGH ARCHITECTURE STUDIOS | Design + Research, Julie Kriegh brings her clients’ project goals to fruition while adhering to the values of sustainability, high-performance construction principles, exceptional craft and attention to detail. These principles apply to custom single-family, multi-family, and residential community developments, as well as religious, medical, educational, and municipal facilities. She offers collaborative, team-oriented architectural services that result in custom designs that are aligned with her clients’ project needs. As a  passive house designer, Julie uses state of the art energy modeling software to design and consult on net-positive energy buildings.

Dr. Kriegh is currently working on several research initiatives at the University of Washington, Seattle. Collaborating with a team of  university researchers and industry partners on sustainability issues, Dr. Kriegh is leading research on building and occupant performance using wireless sensing devices and tailored feedback on energy use in residential settings. As a Research Scientist, she belongs to a consortium between UW, UA, Microsoft and Google researching the future of sustainable Data Centers. In addition, Dr. Kriegh worked with the UW Carbon Leadership Forum investigating materials for the Carbon Storing Data Center of the future to advance Microsoft’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon negative by 2050.

Julie received a PhD from the University of Washington in 2018, where her research focused on high-performance buildings, building user behavior and environmental psychology.

Urban Infrastructure Lab

The Urban Infrastructure Lab (UIL) at the University of Washington brings together students and faculty with a shared interest in the planning, governance, finance, design, development, economics, and environmental effects of infrastructure. Collectively, our interests span the systems critical to economic and social well-being, such as energy, water, health, transportation, education, and communications. Across these sectors, our studies integrate empirical and applied methods of research to discover the means to obtain long-run objectives, such as decarbonization, resilience, and information security, through decisions made today.