Networking for Environmental Sustainability in Arid Region Urban Communities

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The sustainability of small- to mid-sized urban centers (population between 50,000 and 500,000 residents) is increasingly under threat. These communities often lack the financial, technical, and human resources to adequately address those threats. Small to mid-sized urban centers are much more common than the megacities that receive more attention, and cumulatively serve as home for more people. In addition, rural America depends upon small urban centers to drive the rural economy and meet important basic needs such as health services. A workshop is proposed with an overarching goal to conceptualize the sustainability challenges that face the many urban centers that serve as the backbone of rural communities. Additionally, this workshop will focus on urban centers in arid and semi-arid regions where water of adequate quality and quantity is a defining environmental need. The conceptual framework of the workshop is that of "One Health", which posits that environmental, human, and wildlife health are closely intertwined, and the path to a sustainable future requires meeting human, economic, and environmental needs. The proposed workshop, scheduled for August 14-16, 2019, in Lubbock, TX, will engage researchers and other stakeholders from communities in the arid southwest to identify the needs of these communities and a path for research to meet those needs. Knowledge gained through the workshop can be applied to communities facing similar challenges. An important goal of the workshop is to build a foundation for a global Sustainable Urban Systems Research Network that can formulate a coordinated and convergent international research agenda to address the needs of small- to mid-size urban communities. This workshop is an opportunity to engage researchers, students, and stakeholders in identifying the requirements of and a path for research to meet those community needs. This workshop will bring together a multidisciplinary team of academics, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders to identify challenges these communities face and potential research avenues to develop solutions for these challenges. The workshop also seeks to more effectively engage Native American and minority communities in the definition and conduct of research directed toward addressing the challenges faced by their communities. These sustainability challenges will be evaluated in each of the four workshop themes: Environmental Sustainability, Urban Design, Water, and Public Health. The Environmental Sustainability theme is focused on the problems of urban development in sync with the natural environment. The urban design theme, while complimenting the Environmental Sustainability theme, is more focused on how the design of the built environment respects the natural environment while meeting the needs for human habitat. The Water theme focuses on the common challenge that all arid regions face in meeting the water needs of the environment, human potable water needs, and water for the competing forces of agriculture, manufacturing, and energy development. The Public Health theme recognizes that the population in small cities and surrounding areas do not have easy access to health care, particularly mental health care, common in large cities. The four themes are each individually important, but all intersect in key ways that need to be explored in the contexts of long-term environmental sustainability and integration with the surrounding rural matrix.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.