Our faculty explore the interconnections among people, place and landscape through a range of research themes including urbanism, landscape, mobility, social justice, ethnicity and representation. We are interested in how the transformation of societies manifests in the cultural landscape, in how people see themselves in relation to the larger society, and in the ways places function in people’s everyday lives. We are concerned with mobility, access, urbanism, ethnicity, justice and representation.

Overview

Our school includes a cluster of faculty members who study how places are organized and function, what they mean to the people who live in them, and how they can be adapted to meet the challenges of environmental and societal change. Especially significant in this regard is the role of culture in defining and changing the nature of place characteristics.  Research themes include urbanism, landscape, mobility, social justice, ethnicity, and representation. Ongoing studies explore the transformation of societies as manifest in the cultural landscape, and the ways places function in the everyday lives of people.

Specific studies in this theme address how  ethnicity shapes community landscape,  how  landscapes are represented through media processes, social justice implications of sustainable development, the role of migration (international, internal, and intra-urban in changing places and landscapes, the role of lifestyle and cultural legacies in explaining energy use,

Interest in place, identity and culture includes the Central Arizona Phoenix area, but extends more broadly to take in other parts of North America and Asia and the Middle East. Research in this theme uses mixed methods and relies heavily on field study.

The School's research and teaching related to Cultures, Identities and Places is enhanced by its strong links to a broad range of centers and organizations on campus, particularly the Asian/Pacific American Studies Center , the School of Global Studies, and the School of Social Transformation.

Our faculty