Rapid urbanization creates more impervious surfaces, leading to increased stormwater runoff, water and air pollution, urban heat islands, and environmental gentrification. Nature-based Solutions (NbS), such as tree programs, public parks, community gardens, and green infrastructure systems, are powerful yet underutilized tools for enhancing community resilience to the impacts of rapid urbanization and ongoing environmental challenges.
Community gardens are also effective NbS (image: Midjourney)
ENACTS aims to understand and measure the impact of NbS on community well-being. The project will develop design principles and best practices that promote environmental sustainability, resilience, and practicality.
Led by the University of New Hampshire, ENACTS will form partnerships between researchers in Rhode Island, Kentucky, and New Hampshire, and residents in Providence, RI, Louisville, KY, and Manchester, NH. Together, they will design and implement practical, community-driven NbS in these areas.
ENACTS will build capacity through a new research infrastructure that focuses on community resilience in NbS. Supported by local knowledge and integrating social and natural sciences, engineering, art, and design, ENACTS research will inform better NbS decisions for maximum efficacy. The project seeks to shift national and international paradigms for designing and implementing NbS. ENACTS will enhance decision-making about NbS in these three states and, in doing so, address the urgent global need for improved decision tools for community resilience and prosperity.
ENACTS Leadership
- Weiwei Mo, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New Hampshire
- Abigail Abrash Walton, Chair of Environmental Studies, Antioch University New England
- Semra Aytur, Professor of Health, Management and Policy, University of New Hampshire
- Johanna Barthmaeier-Payne, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design
- Stephanie Brockmann, Assistant Professor of Economics, Baker University
- Hallie Decker, Associate Director of Research, School of Public Health and Information Sciences, University of Louisville
- Madison Jones, Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric/Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island
- Andrea Gaughan, Professor of Geography & Geosciences, University of Louisville
- Fei Han, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New Hampshire
- Jason Parent, Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island
- Soni Pradhanang, Professor of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island
- Forrest Stevens, Associate Professor of Geography and Geosciences, University of Louisville
- Angela Storey, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Louisville
- Kalpana Venkatasubramanian, Assistant Professor of Geographic & Environmental Sciences, University of Louisville
ENACTS is supported by NSF EPSCoR awards #2418376, #2418377, #2418378 & #2418379