Sara Meerow
I am an Associate Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University, where I lead the Planning for Urban Resilience Lab. I am also a Senior Global Futures Scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, a faculty affiliate of the Urban Climate Research Center, and CAP-LTER.
I am currently co-leading the national NOAA NIHHIS Center for Heat Resilient Communities and also spending my Fall 2024 sabbatical as a Humboldt Research Fellow at the Technical University Munich in Germany.
My research, at the intersection of urban geography and planning, tackles the challenge of how to make cities more resilient to climate change and other hazards in a way that is sustainable and just. I currently focus on three interrelated topics:
Urban resilience governance and planning in a changing climate (with a particular focus on heat and flooding)
My work has been published in academic journals including Landscape and Urban Planning, Urban Geography, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Journal of the American Planning Association, Environmental Research Letters, and Urban Forestry & Urban Greening (See the full list in Google Scholar) and featured in the media. Some of my federally-funded projects include an NSF grant on flood resilience planning, DOE-funded work on urban climate resilience, NOAA-funded projects on extreme heat resilience, and research on green infrastructure planning, including an NCAR early career fellowship.
I received my Ph.D. from the School of Natural Resources and Environment (now the School for Environment and Sustainability) at the University of Michigan. I also have a master’s in international development studies from the University of Amsterdam and a bachelor’s in political science and history from the University of Florida.
Prospective master's and PhD students interested in working with me at ASU and joining the Planning for Urban Resilience Lab should send me an email.