UNS: International Research Coordination Network for Creating Transdisciplinary Nodes of Food-Energy-Water to Support Sustainable Urban Systems

2021956(壮族)。环境变化、人口增长以及食物、能源和水（FEW）资源消耗的加速给世界范围内的城市可持续性带来了巨大挑战。在这些挑战中往往忽略了与少数联系的环境关系以及由于缺乏对科学和技术的系统理解而导致的不协调决策的环境后果。尽管经济和政治结构存在巨大差异，但许多国家都有共同的少数民族发展轨迹、强大的科学和技术基础以及对城市环境可持续性的公认承诺。随着世界从自然生态系统加速向管理生态系统过渡，不断演变的全球变化值得建立一个跨学科的国际网络，以制定一个全球研究议程，解决区域和全球FEW系统对城市可持续性的影响。这一国际研究协调网络（iRCN）的目标是在FEW关系的框架内为发展城市可持续性和复原力开辟一条新的道路。该iRCN整合了不同城市化和收入水平国家的现有研究网络，包括阿根廷、巴西、柬埔寨、智利、中国、哥伦比亚、捷克共和国、危地马拉、荷兰、坦桑尼亚、乌干达、乌拉圭和美国。该iRCN的目标是：(1)建立一个全面的“少数系统”数据库，以支持全球城市可持续性；(2)创建一个专注的FEW网络，以激励城市外展和参与计划；(3)促进跨国跨学科研究团队的形成，以解决城市利益相关者的利益；(4)教育和培训未来能够实施可持续城市发展的少数劳动力。城市FEW网络是一个复杂的系统，具有突发性和不可预测的特性。没有一组学科可以全面理解城市少数民族操纵和变化对环境的反馈和影响。该iRCN将连接现有的国际和国内“少数资源”系统以及相关网络和伙伴关系，努力确定和完善城市“少数资源”挑战，协调观点，创造合作机会，并实现目前孤立和不协调的工作的协同效应，以推进以“少数资源”为重点的可持续城市发展全球议程。iRCN将促进跨学科、多国间的交流，加快多部门数据、标准、分析工具、新技术和训练有素的劳动力在不同城市化国家之间的开发和转移。iRCN将解决在复杂的城市FEW网络中向跨国利益相关者和决策者传播科学技术的挑战。来自实践者和公众的反馈将被纳入研究议程的设计和规划中，以便集中在具有全球规模影响的地方问题的潜在解决方案上。通过这个iRCN建立的网络将成为非洲、拉丁美洲和南亚新兴的少数城市研究倡议的模板，并帮助城市化程度较低的国家在向可持续发展过渡的过程中避免陷阱和负面经验。iRCN将为国际教育提供独特的机会，其中包括田纳西大学校园的荣誉学生研究项目，美国学生的多个海外学习项目，以及在中国举办的年度暑期学校，美国学生将与来自20多个国家的学生互动。这些努力将有助于发展一支多样化、有竞争力和全球参与的劳动力队伍，从而有效地向公众和利益相关者传达“少数系统”的重大挑战和解决方案，并将研究创新转化为跨国界的实践。iRCN还将为经济和环境政策的制定提供结构化的理论依据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

2021956 (Zhuang). Environmental change, population growth, and accelerating consumption of food, energy, and water (FEW) resources bring grand challenges for urban sustainability worldwide. Often lost in the challenges is the environmental relation to the FEW nexus and the environmental consequences of uncoordinated decision making due to lack of systems understanding of science and technology. Despite dramatic differences in economic and political structure, many countries share common FEW trajectories, a strong science and technology base, and a perceived commitment to urban environmental sustainability. Evolving global change merits the creation of a transdisciplinary international network to develop a global research agenda that addresses the impacts of regional and global FEW systems on urban sustainability as the world transitions from natural ecosystems to managed ecosystems at accelerating rates. The goal of this international Research Coordination Network (iRCN) is to chart a new path forward in developing urban sustainability and resiliency within the framework of the FEW nexus. This iRCN merges research networks existing among countries of different urbanization and income levels, including Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Netherlands, Tanzania, Uganda, Uruguay, and the U.S. The objectives of this iRCN are to (1) build a comprehensive FEW-system database to support global urban sustainability; (2) create a focused FEW network to inspire urban outreach and engagement programs; (3) facilitate the formation of multinational transdisciplinary research teams to address the interests of urban stakeholders; and (4) educate and train a future FEW workforce capable of implementing sustainable urban development.Urban FEW networks are complex systems and emergent, and unpredictable properties are expected. No single group of disciplines can generate comprehensive understanding of the feedbacks and impacts of urban FEW manipulations and variations on the environment. This iRCN will bridge existing international and domestic FEW-system and relevant networks and partnerships in an effort to identify and refine urban FEW challenges, harmonize perspectives, generate opportunities for collaboration, and realize synergies of currently siloed and uncoordinated work for advancing a FEW-focused global agenda of sustainable urban development. The iRCN will facilitate transdisciplinary, multinational communications and accelerate the development and transfer of multisectoral data, standards, analysis tools, new technologies, and a trained workforce among differently urbanized countries. The iRCN will tackle the challenge of communicating science and technology to multinational stakeholders and policy-makers within a complex urban FEW network. Feedbacks from practitioners and the public will be incorporated into research agenda design and planning in order to converge on potential solutions to local problems with global scale implications. The network established through this iRCN will serve as a template for budding FEW-urban research initiatives in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia and help the less urbanized countries avoid traps and negative experiences during the transition to sustainable development. The iRCN will provide unique opportunities for international education, which include an honors student research program on the University of Tennessee campus, multiple study abroad programs for U.S. students, and an annual summer school in China, where U.S. students will interact with students from more than 20 countries. These efforts will contribute to developing a diverse, competitive, and globally engaged workforce, which can effectively communicate FEW-system grand challenges and solutions to the public and stakeholders and translate research innovations into practice across international borders. The iRCN will also provide a structured rationale for economic and environmental policy making.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.