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Joshua Newell

Josh Newell
Professor of Environment and Sustainability
On sabbatical 2024-2025 academic year
Environmental Justice
Sustainable Systems
Cities + Mobility + Built Environment
[email protected]
(734)- 763-8652
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Dana 1064
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Urban Sustainability Research Group
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Lightning Talk VIDEO: Cities + Mobility + Built Environment

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About

Joshua Newell is a professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. He is a broadly trained human-environment geographer, whose research focuses on questions related to urban sustainability, resource consumption, and environmental and social justice. Newell’s current research can be divided into two primary areas of interest. The first, Urban Infrastructure and Form, focuses on structural features of the urban form (e.g. built environment, transport, energy, and water infrastructure). The second research area, Urban Consumption and Commodities, focuses on the interrelationships between the consumption of consumer products, our responsibilities as global 'green' urban citizens, and the role of governance mechanisms and frameworks (including local institutions) in regulating product consumption. His research approach is often multi-scalar and integrative and, in addition to theory and method found in geography and urban planning, he draws upon principles and tools of industrial ecology, and spatial analysis. He teaches Sustainability and Society, a large undergraduate course, and Urban Sustainability, which is designed for MS and PhD students. He also leads a year-long interdisciplinary PhD student workshop that grapples with theories and concepts of urbanism, sustainability, and resilience.

Publications

  • 2020.  Goldstein, B.*, Gounaridis, D.* and Newell, J.P. The carbon footprint of residential energy use in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). Accepted.
  • 2020. Newell, J.P. and A. Ramaswami. Urban food-energy-water systems: Past, current, and future research trajectories. Environmental Research Letters. 15: 05201
  • 2020. Goldstein, B.*, and Newell, J.P. How to track corporations across space and time (TRACAST).  Ecological Economics. 169: 106492.
  • 2019. Meerow, S., and Newell, J.P. Urban resilience for whom, what, when, where, and why?  Urban Geography. 40 (3): 309-329. Note: Web of Science Highly Cited Paper (Top 1% of Social Sciences
  • 2019. Foster, A.*, and Newell, J.P. Detroit’s lines of desire: Informal footpaths and vacant land in the motor city. Landscape and Urban Planning. 189: 260-273.
  • 2019. Newell, J.P., Goldstein, B.*, and Foster, A*. A 40-Year review of food-energy-water nexus literature and its application to the urban scale. Environmental Research Letters. 14(7).

Read more publications here.

Research

Current Projects

The Sustainability Hoofprint of Cities: A Spatial Model to Assess Transboundary Urban Consumption. National Science Foundation (NSF), 2018-2021. PI: J.P. Newell (U. Michigan). Co-PI: Jennifer Schmidt (U. Minnesota). $313,049   

Belmont Forum Collaborative Research: The FEW-Meter - An Integrative Model to Measure and Improve Urban Agriculture, Shifting It Towards Circular Urban Metabolism. National Science Foundation (NSF), 2018-2021. Five PIs in five countries. U.S. PI: J.P. Newell (U. Michigan). [U. Michigan Portion: $399,500] $2,000,000

U.S.-China: Integrated Systems Modeling of Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus for Urban Sustainability. National Science Foundation (NSF), 2016-2020. PI: Ming Xu (U. Michigan). Co-PIs: J.P. Newell (U. Michigan), S. Miller (U. Michigan), J. Johnson (U. Michigan), N. Love (U. Michigan). $499,000

SRN: Integrated Urban Infrastructure Solutions for Environmentally Sustainable, Healthy and Livable Cities. National Science Foundation (NSF), 2015-2020. $12,000,000

PIs: A. Ramaswami (U. Minnesota), P.J. Culligan (Columbia University), Y. Fan (U. Minnesota), B.S. Orlove (Columbia University), A.G. Russell (Georgia Institute of Technology)             

Senior Personnel: J.P. Newell (U. Michigan), R. Felock (Florida State University), B. Bakshi (Ohio State University), K. Kockelman (UT – Austin), D. Zimmerle (Colorado State University), N. Botchwey (Georgia Institute of Technology) [U. Michigan Portion: $750,000]

Expanding Green Infrastructure as a Response to Environmental Injustice and Climate Change. National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), 2018–2020. $140,000

PI: J.P. Newell (U. Michigan)        Co-PIs: Robert Goodspeed (U. Michigan), Richard Rood (U. Michigan), D. Gounaridis (U. Michigan)

Education

PhD, University of Washington (geography)

MA, University of Washington (geography)

BA, Brown University (history)

Affiliations
  • Chair, Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) (2012–2014).
  • Technical Committee, International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE) Conference (2013).
  • Founding Board Member, Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Section, ISIE (2011-2015).
In the News
Concept illustration depicting food crops growing in an urban district.
November 13, 2024

The time is ripe to support urban agriculture

A newly published policy brief explores the ways that policy and planning play a role in supporting climate-friendly practices that are already being used in urban...

A map of the United States that shows where flood risk and climate change skepticism exists.
October 23, 2024

A ‘worrying confluence’ of flood risk, social vulnerability and climate change denial

Contact: [email protected] According to a new University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) study, in parts of the United States, especially...

Bags of copper and cobalt are loaded by artisanal and small-scale miners near Kolwezi, DRC.
September 4, 2024

Making the case for artisanal and small-scale mining

Contact: [email protected] Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) comes with significant challenges, especially since this kind of mining typically lacks regulation and...

SEAS researchers learn to multiply their impact through engagement with policy
May 7, 2024

SEAS researchers learn to multiply their impact through engagement with policy

More than 30 SEAS faculty, staff and students attended a workshop led by White House Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer Madeline Reeves and U-M Ford School Professor...

Michigan Sea Grant funds six new projects, totaling $1.7M
February 20, 2024

Michigan Sea Grant funds six new projects, totaling $1.7M

Michigan Sea Grant is funding six new research projects, totaling nearly $1.7 million, to investigate the shifting dynamics of harmful algal blooms, economic trends in...

Climate change denialism in the U.S., by state (A) and county (B). (Note: Uncertainty is higher in counties with low population densities due to smaller tweet sample sizes.) Image credit: Gounaridis and Newell in Scientific Reports, February 2024.
February 14, 2024

AI study finds nearly 15% of Americans deny climate change is real, shaped by social media influencers: Public figures such as Trump play outsized role in influencing beliefs

Contacts: Jim Erickson, [email protected] Nayiri Mullinix, [email protected] ANN ARBOR–Using social media data and artificial intelligence (AI) for the first time ever in...

Food from urban agriculture has carbon footprint 6 times larger than conventional produce, study shows
January 22, 2024

Study finds that urban agriculture must be carefully planned to have climate benefits

Contact: [email protected] A new study, led by researchers at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), finds that fruits and...

SEAS research teams chosen for new Boost program
September 7, 2023

SEAS research teams chosen for new Boost program

The Bold Challenges Initiative has selected eight interdisciplinary teams, including three whose members are from the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)...

In the Media
03/31/2025
Benjamin Goldstein
Joshua Newell
Fact Check: World Economic Forum did not demand ban on homegrown foods (Reuters)
12/10/2024
Joshua Newell
Social Media Is a Growing Vehicle for Climate Misinformation (Inside Climate News)
10/30/2024
Joshua Newell
U-M research finds correlation between flood risk and climate change skepticism (WEMU)
10/10/2024
Joshua Newell
Extreme weather – extreme denial (Voice of America)
02/28/2024
Joshua Newell
Map Shows Climate Change Denialism by US State (Newsweek)
02/27/2024
Joshua Newell
Stateside Podcast: AI can survey our opinions on climate change (Michigan Public)
02/22/2024
Joshua Newell
Stateside: Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 (Michigan Public)
02/14/2024
Joshua Newell
AI Reveals Hotspots of Climate Denial (Scientific American)
02/14/2024
Joshua Newell
Nearly 15% of Americans don’t believe climate change is real, study finds (The Guardian)
01/23/2024
Benjamin Goldstein
Joshua Newell
Study examines carbon footprint of urban-farmed food (The University Record)
01/22/2024
Benjamin Goldstein
Joshua Newell
Urban agriculture isn’t as climate-friendly as it seems – but these best practices can transform gardens and city farms (The Conversation)
08/02/2023
Joshua Newell
Detroit farms, gardens still fighting for right to flourish (The Detroit News)
01/27/2023
Joshua Newell
EV adoption doesn’t lighten energy costs for all American families (Popular Science)
01/11/2023
Joshua Newell
Seven in 10 U.S. Drivers Could Halve Their Fuel Costs by Going Electric, Study Finds (Yale Environment 360)
01/11/2023
Greg Keoleian
Joshua Newell
Switching to EVs will save nearly everyone money and reduce carbon emissions, study says (MLive)
01/11/2023
Joshua Newell
Most US car owners would benefit from EV switch, but lowest-income Americans could be left behind: study (The Hill)
04/11/2022
Joshua Newell
Study: Scattered Strategy Best Approach to Scaling Up Urban Agriculture in Detroit (DBusiness)
04/08/2022
Joshua Newell
The Untapped Potential for Urban Agriculture in Detroit (Modern Farmer)
04/07/2022
Joshua Newell
Detroit Evening Report: April 7, 2022: Scattering community gardens on Detroit’s lower eastside could help community, report says (WDET FM)
04/04/2022
Joshua Newell
Why isn't more vacant land in Detroit used for gardening? (Michigan Radio)
11/29/2021
Joshua Newell
Tony G. Reames
White Neighborhoods Have Higher Carbon Emissions (Futurity)
11/23/2021
Joshua Newell
Despite better energy efficiency, larger suburban homes cause more greenhouse gases (Michigan Radio)
11/01/2020
Joshua Newell
Neighborhood Wealth Dramatically Impacts Home Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Scientific American)
09/01/2019
Joshua Newell
Detroit's unofficial footpaths could play important role in land development, researchers say
09/01/2019
Joshua Newell
Visible from outer space, Detroit's unofficial pathways could play important role in land redevelopment
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