Sustainable Urban-Rural Futures

We develop advanced urban sustainability analytics to map, measure, and mitigate the environmental impacts of cities.

Cities house the majority of people and wealth. They pull vast quantities of resources from global hinterlands and expel pollution and waste. By doing so, cities degrade the local and distant environments needed by humanity to thrive. Because of their population density and co-location of a wide range of  human activities, cities also provide unique opportunities to use infrastructure and resources more effectively. We believe that cities can become more sustainable.

Our research develops novel methods to quantify and map resource use and environmental impacts of cities. We apply multi-scalar thinking to understand the interconnections between cities and the distal farms, fields, fisheries, forests, mines, factories, and peoples on which they rely and to expand beyond a city-centric conceptualization of urban sustainability. Through clarifying these connections, we can work towards sustainable and just cities that respect people and planet. 

We use methods and data from industrial ecology and geospatial science to quantify the urban metabolism and the environmental impacts of cities. By combining these with theory from social science we gain insights into how we can promote a sustainable urban future.

The SURF Lab is located at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan and is affiliated with the Center for Sustainable Systems.