Georgia State University’s Urban Studies Institute faculty has received $1 million from a $12 million National Science Foundation grant for a project to help cities prepare for climate change by developing the knowledge needed to promote resilient cities in a future that will look very different from today.

Sustainability scientist David Iwaniec, an assistant professor in the institute, leads research and management for the new transdisciplinary initiative.

The grant brings Georgia State into the National Science Foundation’s UREx Sustainability Research Network, a five-year project joining social scientists, planners, engineers, ecologists, climate scientists, policymakers and the public with team members from 25 institutions. Their research focuses on building resilience to climate-driven extreme events in nine Latin and North American cities.

“Our project will focus on urban resilience in the face of climate change,” said Distinguished University Professor Jan Nijman, who directs the Urban Studies Institute. “We hope this research will become a key part of the institute’s research agenda in the years to come.”

Iwaniec, who joined Georgia State in August, is a member of the UREx SRN’s executive team and a senior sustainability scientist with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

“The UREx SRN echoes the Urban Studies Institute’s interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving and innovative thinking, with a focus on social justice and implementing solutions,” Iwaniec said. “In co-developing solutions that address extreme events — flooding, storms, drought, and heat waves — we need to use this opportunity to look beyond the typical five-year time horizon and fail-safe adaptation strategies to build not only resilient, but sustainable and equitable cities.”