{"433781":{"#nid":"433781","#data":{"type":"news","title":"NSF funds $12M research network to build the healthy, sustainable, livable cities of the future","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EStory by Joshua Stuart\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHow will we build the cities of the future in a sustainable way?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA new\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.sustainablehealthycities.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENational Science Foundation-funded research network\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;will connect scientists at nine universities with infrastructure groups, public policy experts, and industry partners to reimagine cities. Georgia Tech will be an anchor of the $12 million network, which will be\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.hhh.umn.edu\/features\/SRN_Release.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eled by the University of Minnesota\u003C\/a\u003E, and School of Civil and Environmental Engineering professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/cee.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/411\/overview\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ETed Russell\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;will serve as a co-director.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re bringing some very different communities together more than past projects have done,\u201d Russell said. \u201cWe are getting the engineering community, the health community, the atmospheric sciences community, the economics communities, the policy communities in the same virtual room to look to the future.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re looking at real-life cities and figuring out how to make these cities work better and how to help cities [in general] evolve.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe idea is to reimagine infrastructure \u2014 energy grids, road networks, green spaces, and food and water systems \u2014 to create cities that are highly functional, that promote the health of residents and the environment, and that have that intangible \u201cvibe\u201d that makes them desirable places to live and work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe have to think in new ways about a city\u2019s physical infrastructure to develop sustainable solutions,\u201d said Anu Ramaswami, the project\u2019s director and a professor in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. \u201cUnderstanding that these physical systems are interconnected serves as a foundation for this work. For example, urban farms wouldn\u2019t work very well without thinking about water, energy and transportation infrastructure as well as people, markets and policies.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe network will use cities across the United States and in India as \u201ctest beds\u201d for its work, a unique approach that Russell said means the outcome of the network\u2019s studies will have significant impact. Atlanta is one of those cities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne of the points we made with this proposal is that it\u2019s action-oriented, with the idea that the output of this project is not papers, it\u2019s actually actions,\u201d he said. \u201c[We will] not only specify what actions might be taken but actually help realize those actions.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project, called a Sustainability Research Network in NSF parlance, runs for four years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cReal success at the end of those four years would be one or more cities \u2014 having worked with us from the beginning \u2014 take actions that will lead to improving the livability of their city,\u201d Russell said. \u201cThat could come in multiple ways: improved transit options, improved plans for water usage, effective urban farming, or strategies to improve air quality that they\u2019ve actually implemented and to inform their citizenry of how to reduce their exposures to harmful chemicals and lead more healthy lives.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe network stretches beyond civil and environmental engineering at Tech:\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.coa.gatech.edu\/people\/nisha-botchwey\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENisha Botchwey\u003C\/a\u003E, an associate professor in the School of City and Regional Planning, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/webster.eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EPeter Webster\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, will have significant roles, as will Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ceismc.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECenter for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(better known as CEISMC).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn fact, Botchwey will lead the education component of the project, which includes outreach to K-12 students, college graduate students and Native American communities. Those efforts will include an innovative interdisciplinary summer school at the network\u2019s nine partner schools.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERussell said Tech\u2019s wide-ranging involvement in the project fits in perfectly with the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/features\/serve-learn-sustain\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EInstitute-wide focus in the coming decade\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;on sustainability and community. Officials announced the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/serve-learn-sustain.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EServe\u2022Learn\u2022Sustain\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;initiative earlier this year as part of the Institute\u2019s reaccreditation process.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis fits in extremely well with that, because we are hitting all of those pieces in [the project],\u201d Russell said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELearn more about the project in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.hhh.umn.edu\/features\/SRN_Release.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EUniversity of Minnesota news release\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and on the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.sustainablehealthycities.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eproject\u2019s website\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new\u0026nbsp;National Science Foundation-funded research network\u0026nbsp;will connect scientists at nine universities with infrastructure groups, public policy experts, and industry partners to reimagine cities. Georgia Tech will be an anchor of the $12 million network, which will be\u0026nbsp;led by the University of Minnesota, and School of Civil and Environmental Engineering professor\u0026nbsp;Ted Russell\u0026nbsp;will serve as a co-director. School of City and Regional Planning associate professor Nisha Botchwey will lead the education component of the project, which includes outreach to K-12 students, college graduate students and Native American communities. Those efforts will include an innovative interdisciplinary summer school at the network\u2019s nine partner schools.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"CEE\u0027s Ted Russell and SCaRP\u0027s Nisha Botchwey will help lead a new Sustainability Research Network anchored at Georgia Tech, University of Minnesota and Columbia University"}],"uid":"28044","created_gmt":"2015-08-12 11:51:55","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:22","author":"Jessie Brandon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-08-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-08-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"427291":{"id":"427291","type":"image","title":"NSF Logo","body":null,"created":"1449254342","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:02","changed":"1475895165","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:45","alt":"NSF Logo","file":{"fid":"202790","name":"nsf_logo.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nsf_logo_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nsf_logo_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":15259,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/nsf_logo_0.png?itok=_D1UUU5N"}}},"media_ids":["427291"],"groups":[{"id":"1224","name":"School of City \u0026 Regional Planning"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"104571","name":"botchwey"},{"id":"61951","name":"CEE"},{"id":"166","name":"Cities"},{"id":"18651","name":"featured"},{"id":"137701","name":"National Grant"},{"id":"363","name":"NSF"},{"id":"177","name":"planning"},{"id":"6159","name":"russell"},{"id":"167110","name":"SCaRP"},{"id":"171472","name":"SRN"},{"id":"166890","name":"sustainability"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}