Skip to Content
Use-inspired research

Use-inspired research

Use-inspired research

Biodiversity and preservation of natural environment

Humans have long affected the landscapes in which they live, sometimes with disastrous consequences. ASU researchers are currently studying past and present impacts of humanity to develop sustainable strategies for the future. While some multidisciplinary teams are examining past societies to understand key lessons about the nature and possible outcomes of interactions among human and natural systems, others teams are pioneering the new field of urban ecology to understand modern human effects on biodiversity and habitat.

Business practices and economics

World economic prosperity is ultimately tied to the quality of Earth's natural resources and the wellbeing of human communities. To sustain these systems, the business practices of corporations, institutions, and individuals must reflect and support their workings. ASU conducts multidisciplinary research that improves understanding of bio-social interactions and applies that knowledge toward developing more sustainable products, making better decisions, managing resources efficiently, improving social equity, and adapting to future change.

Climate change and adaptation

Climate instability affects all living things, particularly in an extreme environment such as the desert Southwest. Challenges for urban dwellers in arid regions include long-term drought, crop failures, and the growing impacts of urban heat island effect. ASU's climate researchers currently address issues of how human activities and changing climate affect each other, policies and actions needed to ameliorate unfavorable climatic conditions, and strategies to ensure that human needs are met in conditions of uncertainty.



Food systems

Food systems include all the processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population from growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, and transportation to marketing, consumption, and disposal of food and food-related items. These systems are influenced by culture, economics, politics, and the environment. ASU researchers are studying the sensitivity of food systems to global change.

Future and systems thinking

Future and systems thinking is understanding how things influence each other as part of an entire system. ASU researchers are examining future and systems thinking topics like how ecosystems work based on their makeup or how the decisions we make now will influence our lives in the future.

International development

Solving world problems requires a comprehensive approach. ASU partners with other institutions around the globe to address problems common to rapidly growing cities. Faculty also conduct comparative studies of diverse world regions to understand patterns and processes of human-environment interactions and to develop best-practice models that can be replicated.

Materials and technology

Industries and institutions around the world are searching for better strategies to eliminate wasteful, non-sustainable practices. New materials and technologies will provide an important part of the solution. ASU research teams are tackling many of the grand challenges of the 21st century by developing advanced eco-friendly materials and new technologies for analyzing the vulnerabilities of complex adaptive systems and the impacts of emerging military devices.

Policy and governance

Sustainability can only be realized if it is recognized as a social priority, society focuses its resources on discovering the characteristics that make human activities sustainable, and public policies explicitly encourage sustainable practices. ASU develops innovative ways to connect government leaders, policymakers, and management practitioners with researchers and cutting-edge information and tools. These help make sustainability a real-world practice rather than a theoretical goal.

Social and behavioral change, ethics



Urban activities greatly impact natural systems. Water, air, nutrient cycling, climate, land-use, and flora and fauna are all affected -- and, in turn, urban systems are affected by nature. ASU's urbanization research examines the complex patterns and dynamics created by interactions between urban and natural systems and the responses at scales ranging from local to global.

Water quality, use, and supply

The Phoenix metropolitan area provides a model urban laboratory for developing solutions applicable to hot, arid, rapidly growing desert cities around the world. As in many rapidly developing areas, water is the most limited resource. Long-term ASU research has centered on analyzing and testing practical strategies for managing quality water supplies under conditions of uncertainty and future growth. Results will benefit many other urban areas globally.