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Patricia Romero-Lankao's Home Page

It is a pleasure to welcome you to my website!

I study the interactions between urban development and global environmental change. Urbanization is both a social and environmental phenomenon; it is one of the most influential, irreversible and evident anthropogenic forces on the Earth system. Many urban centers share characteristics (e.g., location) that will make them more vulnerable to adverse climate change events. In viewing the multiple interactions between urban development and the environment, I have focused on crucial intersections between society and environment, including the carbon cycle, the climate system and the water cycle. In particular, I have studied key issues of a) how urban development impacts the environment (drivers), b) what societal factors explain cities' vulnerability/resilience to heat waves, atmospheric pollution and other stresses (impacts), and c) how particular cities manage and can better meet the challenges of reducing emissions while improving resilience to environmental impacts (responses).

I have performed research and published in the areas of:

Multiscale drivers of energy use in cities and their impacts on the carbon cycle
Urban impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change
Linkages among multiple drivers of environmental change and production strategies of farmers and industrial enterprises;
Implications of global change and urban-rural water linkages on local water management and usage;
Social perception and response to environmental change among farmers and enterprises
Sociology of science and two schools of environmental thought: neoclassical economics and ecology