Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) International Project Office

城市研究在社会科学、工程科学和规划领域有着悠久的传统。最近，自然科学和健康科学的贡献扩大了对城市问题的认识。迄今为止，还没有一个整合这些学科贡献的框架。一个跨学科的研究方法和一个连接全球研究人员的有效网络对于理解全球环境变化与城市过程之间复杂的相互作用至关重要。学术界和政策制定者之间还需要加强合作，以制定能够减轻这些互动后果的政策。为了满足这一需求，全球环境变化国际人文规划（IHDP）于2005年启动了“城市化与全球环境变化”项目。第二年，国际项目办公室（IPO）在亚利桑那州立大学成立，以协调和促进该项目的工作。在过去的三年里，UGEC项目IPO一直在建立一个扩大的学者和实践者的国际网络，这些学者和实践者在城市地区和全球环境变化的界面工作。UGEC项目是一个为期十年的项目，旨在提高对全球环境变化与地方、区域和全球范围内城市化之间相互作用和反馈的认识和理解。为此，UGEC协助制定支持研究和分析这些相互作用的概念框架和方法；它指导对全球环境变化与城市系统之间相互作用的研究，最终目标是促进改进指导城市增长的决策过程；它确定了人与环境耦合的城市系统中相互作用的点和强度、变化的阈值以及因果关系的方向。IPO通过组织国际研讨会和会议以及利用诸如listserv、时事通讯和网站等通讯工具，促进研究与公共政策之间的联系，力求在该项目中发挥催化作用。它还将有助于加强UGEC在美国的学者和从业人员网络与国际同行之间的联系。通过让城市实践者、决策者和利益相关者参与进来，IPO打算在UGEC网络的成员之间在国家和国际范围内产生积极的合作对话。UGEC项目将通过鼓励将社会科学与自然科学、工程、规划和金融联系起来的创新概念和方法方法，促进创造新的跨学科知识的过程。IPO将把这些综合研究成果传达给地方、国家和国际层面的决策者、从业者和其他最终用户，从而将前沿学术研究与公共政策联系起来。通过将研究全球环境变化问题的学者聚集在一起，IPO将有助于发展促进跨学科研究的理论、战略和方法，并鼓励年轻科学家跨越社会与自然科学的鸿沟。

Urban studies have a long tradition in the social sciences, engineering sciences, and planning. Contributions from the natural sciences and health sciences recently have expanded knowledge about urban issues. Absent thus far has been a framework that integrates these disciplinary contributions. An interdisciplinary approach and an effective network that links researchers from across the globe are essential to understanding the complex interactions among global environmental change and urban processes. A stronger collaboration among academics and policy makers also is needed to craft policies that can mitigate the consequences of those interactions. To meet this need, the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) project was launched in 2005 by International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) on Global Environmental Change. The following year, the International Project Office (IPO) was established at Arizona State University to coordinate and facilitate the work of the project. For the last three years, the UGEC project IPO has been building an expanded international network of scholars and practitioners that work at the interface of urban areas and global environmental change. The UGEC project is envisioned as a ten-year effort designed to enhance knowledge and understanding about the interactions and feedbacks between global environmental change and urbanization at local, regional, and global scales. Toward this end, UGEC assists in developing conceptual frameworks and methods that support the study and analysis of these interactions; it guides the study of the interactions between global environmental change and urban systems with the ultimate goal of contributing to the improvement of decision-making processes directing urban growth; and it identifies the points and strength of interaction, the thresholds for change, and the direction of causality in a coupled human-environment urban system. The IPO seeks to play a catalytic role in the project by facilitating connections between research and public policy by organizing international workshops and conferences and by using communication tools such as a listserv, newsletter, and website. It also will assist in increasing the connections between U.S.-based networks of UGEC scholars and practitioners with their international counterparts. By engaging urban practitioners, decision makers, and stakeholders, the IPO intends to generate an active, collaborative dialogue among members of the UGEC network on both national and international scales.The UGEC project will contribute to the process of creating new interdisciplinary knowledge by encouraging innovative conceptual and methodological approaches that link social sciences with natural science, engineering, planning, and finance. The IPO will communicate these integrative research results to decision makers, practitioners, and other end-users at local, national, and international levels, thus linking cutting-edge academic research to public policy. By bringing together an ever-larger and more diverse group of scholars on global environmental change issues, the IPO will help develop theories, strategies, and methods that foster interdisciplinary research and encourage young scientists to reach across the social-natural science divide.