SRS-RN: Planning for a Network to Address Pressures, Responses and Sustainability Intersections across a Growing, Innovative, and Dry State

科罗拉多州和美国西部的许多干旱州一样，面临着来自人口增长、技术创新、气候变化以及相互竞争的发展偏好和优先事项的重大可持续挑战。这些挑战横跨区域内相互连接的城乡地区。虽然科罗拉多州的许多研究人员、从业者和社区正在努力理解和应对这些挑战，但努力是零散的。解决区域可持续性挑战需要一种方法，将区域理解为自然、建筑、社会、公共和政府网络的嵌套层。这项规划拨款的目的是提高在研究的所有阶段在公共、私人和非营利性部门共享知识、资源和数据的能力，从而在科罗拉多州建立一个更可持续的地区性系统。需要一个强大、互联和协调的跨部门(大学、政府、行业、非营利组织)和跨学科网络，以提高科罗拉多州已在应对可持续发展挑战的团体的能力。在12个月的规划期内，该网络将使用一种调查工具，更好地了解现有网络在整个科罗拉多州正在进行的连通性、协作、多样性、包容性、感知到的机会、障碍和可持续发展工作的范围。第二步是主办讲习班，重点是了解过去和目前的可持续发展活动，确定哪些压力对不同社区最重要，以及这些问题如何界定各种空间尺度上的关系。跨部门、跨学科的讲习班旨在1)扩大现有的网络联系，将更多的社区和少数群体服务机构包括在内；2)在不同的利益攸关方之间建立知识和信任；3)制定一套研究目标、方法和范围，以制定第一轨道可持续区域系统研究网络(SRS-RN)提案。最后，研究人员将进行网络和经济分析，旨在评估全州资源和联系的广泛不平等，以更好地了解不同社区的障碍和不平等。网络分析还将研究跨学科的联系或缺乏如何阻碍跨学科研究议程的发展。研讨会和分析将使科学研究人员和社区集中在对话中，旨在确定突破这些障碍所需的必要社会和技术平台，并加强和增强网络。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Colorado, like many dry states in the western U.S., faces significant sustainability challenges from population growth, technological innovation, climate change, and competing development preferences and priorities. These challenges span the connected urban and rural areas within the region. While many researchers, practitioners, and communities in Colorado are working to understand and address these challenges, efforts are fragmented. Solving regional sustainability challenges requires an approach that understands regions as nested layers of natural, built, social, public, and government networks. The aim of this planning grant is to improve the ability to share knowledge, resources, and data across the public, private, and non-profit sectors in all phases of the research, leading to a more sustainable and regional system in Colorado. A strong, connected, and coordinated cross-sector (university, government, industry, non-profit), and transdisciplinary network is needed to improve the capacity of groups already working on sustainability challenges in Colorado. During the twelve-month planning period, the network will use a survey instrument to better understand the connectivity, collaboration, diversity, inclusivity, perceived opportunities, barriers, and the range of sustainability work being done across Colorado in the existing network. The second step will be to host workshops focused on understanding past and current sustainability activities, identifying which pressures are most important to different communities, and how these issues define relationships at various spatial scales. The cross-sector, interdisciplinary workshops aims to 1) expand existing network ties to include additional communities and minority serving institutions; 2) build knowledge and trust across diverse stakeholders; and 3) formulate a set of research objectives, methods, and scope for the development of a Track 1 Sustainable Regional Systems Research Networks (SRS-RN) proposal. Finally, researchers will conduct network and economic analyses designed to assess broad inequalities in resources and connections across the state to better understand barriers and inequities across various communities. Network analyses will also examine how connections across disciplines, or lack thereof, are impeding development of a transdisciplinary research agenda The workshops and analyses will focus scientific researchers and communities in conversations meant to identify the necessary social and technical platforms needed to break through these barriers, and to strengthen and empower the network.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.