Expanding Climate Resilient and Affordable Housing
Overview
Creating climate change resiliency and affordable housing are two of society’s most pressing challenges. Our interdisciplinary research team is exploring how to address these challenges together by studying transit-oriented communities (TOCs). TOCs are designed for dense housing and support multiple modes of sustainable transportation. Through this design, they can support climate resilience by reducing urban sprawl and reliance on autos. They can also support greater housing equity through expanding the supply of affordable housing in accessible locations.
This project examines how statewide policies in the US are supporting TOCs, the impact of TOCs on climate resiliency and affordable housing, the barriers to creating them, and how to engage the communities that are most heavily impacted in decisions about TOC development.
The research will occur over five years, through a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems (DISES) Program.
Project Goals
The overarching goal of this research project is to assess how decision makers can simultaneously promote greater climate resilience and housing equity through TOCs. This research involves three main aims over the next five years:
Governance Aim
Understanding what enables or constrains climate resilient and equitable TOC housing policies (Years 1-3)
Biophysical Research Aim
Characterizing the impacts of TOCs on climate resilience and housing equity (Years 2-4)
Transformative Capacity Research Aim
Building transformative capacity for TOC development through knowledge co-production with diverse stakeholders (Years 4-5)
This research will provide evidence to policymakers and interested communities on the urban designs and policies that can support climate-resilient and equitable TOC development. It will also create tools to support policy learning and adaptive policy designs.
Team
Jody Beck, PhD
Landscape Architecture
College of Architecture and Planning
(Senior Personnel)
Benjamin Crawford, PhD
Geography and Environmental Sciences
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
(co- Principal Investigator)
Deserai Anderson, PhD
School of Public Affairs
(Senior Personnel)
Farnoush Banaei-Kashani, PhD
Computer Science and Engineering
College of Engineering, Design and Computing
(Senior Personnel)
Tanya Heikkila, PhD
School of Public Affairs
(Principal Investigator)
Robert Hobbins, PhD
Business School
(Senior Personnel)
Carrie Makarewicz, PhD
Urban and Regional Planning
College of Architecture and Planning
(co- Principal Investigator)
Wesley Marshall, PhD
Civil Engineering
College of Architecture and Planning
(co- Principal Investigator)
Austin Troy, PhD
Urban and Regional Planning
College of Architecture and Planning
(co- Principal Investigator)
Emma Scheetz, SPA
School of Public Affairs
Research Assistant
Carrie Tremblatt
Civil Engineering
Research Assistant
Seth Kelly
School of Public Affairs
Research Assistant
Maisy Sylvan
School of Public Affairs
Research Assistant
Mark Schenberger
Urban and Regional Planning
Research Assistant
Data and Products
The data collection for the Governance Aim is being conducted in collaboration with the NYU Furman Center to help develop their Housing Solution Lab’s policy tracker.
Current Products Include: Scheetz, E., Heikkila, T., Makarewicz, C., & Hobbins, R. (2025). Policy learning over the legislative process: insights from a statewide housing policy debate in Colorado. Policy Sciences, 58(4), 705-731.
Contact
Work with us or reach out with questions.
Prof. Tanya Heikkila, Principal Investigator
Email: tanya.heikkila@ucdenver.edu