Welcome to Iowa UrbanFEWS

Social and biophysical models to integrate local food systems, climate dynamics, built forms, and environmental impacts in the Urban Food-Energy-Water Systems nexus

Systems frameworks that analyze the Urban FEWS nexus have only recently been proposed.  Developing such frameworks is challenging because urban FEW systems are characterized by disconnected processes for production, distribution, consumption, and cycling of food, energy, and water systems. In addition, the effects of changes in climate and land use, built forms, and their impacts on food supply, energy conservation and consumption, and environmental outcomes (e.g., water quality) are often considered in isolation. Our proposed work will address problems related to urban food systems, which alone cause 20% to 50% of human impact on the environment as a result of high population densities, heavy reliance on external food sources, and failure to recycle nutrients.  To conduct robust analyses of urban FEW systems it is necessary to consider interactions within the urban system itself, as well as trans-boundary interactions with areas both adjacent to and further removed from the system.  While frameworks emphasizing the biophysical elements of urban FEW systems and interactions among them have been presented, previous efforts failed to closely integrate social, biophysical, and climatic models to characterize the urban FEW system-of-systems.  Urban areas are where over 50% of people in the world and 80% of people in the US live and work.  Human choices drive significant changes in both social and physical landscapes, so it is imperative to integrate social dynamics in analyses of the urban FEWS nexus.

 

News

Major NSF sponsored grant will help researchers discover ways to improve urban sustainability

Mar 03, 2020
Posted Jan 22, 2020 9:47 am

Dense urban areas use up more energy, water and food resources than they can produce themselves, forcing them to rely on external sources. But a team of researchers is imagining bold new ways to make Midwestern cities more self-reliant.

The Sustainable Cities Research Team recently received a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a framework for analysis of food, energy and water systems for greater Des Moines, which includes the city and the surrounding six-county area, and to formulate scenarios that could result in a more sustainable city. The team includes scientists from a wide range of disciplines at Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa and University of Texas at Arlington.

The group intends for its results to inform decisions about food production, energy use, environmental outcomes and related policies that would apply to a large number of cities in rain-fed climates similar to Des Moines. Their innovative approach could help cities conserve building and transportation energy, reduce environmental impacts and improve city sustainability.


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Blog

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Yuyu Zhou speaking at National Academies Workshop on Digital Twins in Atmospheric, Climate, and Sustainability Science

Jan 23, 2023

The digital twin is an emerging technology that has the potential to revolutionize atmospheric, climate, and sustainability science. Digital twins can be used to create global-scale interactive models of Earth and better predict climate and weather conditions, among other applications.

Vishal Muralidharan picked as the winner of Sustainability Tank, by means of Audience Vote

Oct 14, 2022

Vishal Muralidharan visited the National University of Singapore (NUS) between August-September, as part of the Second Student Cohort for the Center of Leadership Development in Built Environment Sustainability (https://www.cldbes.org/second-student-cohort-tbd).

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Disclaimer

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation, Award # 1855902. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.