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Larissa Larsen

Courtesy Appointment
Landscape Architecture
larissal@umich.edu
734-936-0234
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About

Larsen is an associate professor in the Urban and Regional Planning Program (URP) at the University of Michigan. She teaches graduate classes in environmental planning, land use planning, and physical planning and design. She regularly oversees graduate community-based capstone projects in Detroit neighborhoods. Larissa is the Physical Planning and Design Concentration Coordinator for the Master of Urban Planning Program. Larissa holds an appointment in the School for Environment and Sustainability.

Larissa's research focuses on identifying environmental inequities in the built environment and advancing issues of urban sustainability and social justice. Some of her past research has examined urban heat islands, water consumption, and neighborhood mobilization against environmental problems. Most of her current work involves climate adaptation planning and urban heat island studies. In 2012, she and her students worked with the US Green Building Council to write a publication entitled, Green Building and Climate Resilience. More recently, she collaborated with Marie O’Neill in the School of Public Health to conduct urban heat vulnerability assessments for the National Institutes of Health. In the last year, she began a green infrastructure planning project with collaborators in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and looks forward to returning with graduate students in summers to come.

Larissa grew up on a farm in Ontario. She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Guelph, Ontario. Larissa received her Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After completing her Ph.D., she worked as a landscape architect and urban planner for a private firm in Chicago, Illinois. She is a registered landscape architect and has a passion for native plants. Before coming to the University of Michigan, she taught at Arizona State University for two years.

Publications

  • Larsen, Larissa (2015) Urban climate and adaptation strategies”, Frontiers of Ecology and the Environment 13(9), 486-492.

  • Coseo, Paul, and Larsen, Larissa. (2014) “How Factors of Land Use/Land Cover, Building Configuration, and Adjacent Heat Sources and Sinks Explain Urban Heat Islands in Chicago”, Landscape and Urban Planning, Volume 125, 117-129.

  • Larissa Larsen, Laura Sherman, Laura Smith, Darshan Karwat, Krista Badiane, & Paul Coseo. (2014) “Social Justice and Sustainability in Poor Neighborhoods: Learning and Living in Southwest Detroit”, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol 34(5): 5-18).

  • Larissa Larsen (2012) “Behind the Green Curtain: Shifting Goals and Shifting Roles”, Planning Theory and Practice, Volume 13, Issue 1: 170-172.

  • Pyke, Chris, Sean McMahon, Larissa Larsen, Nicholas B. Rajkovich, and Adam Rohloff. (2012) "Development and Analysis of Climate Sensitivity and Climate Adaptation Opportunities Indices for Green Buildings." Building and Environment, Volume 55: 141-149.

Read more publications here.

Research
  • 2015-2019: National Science Foundation, Hazards SEES Stone, Brian (PI), Larsen (Co-I). "Enhancing emergency preparedness for critical infrastructure failure during extreme heat events". $2.400,000 (Larsen received $107,000).

  •  2013-2018: Heath and Human Services, Department of National Institutes of Health. "Community Action to Promote Healthy Environments: Addressing Community Exposures to Air Pollutants". $2,822,814.00.

  • 2012-2015: National Institute of Health: Climate Change and Human Health PAR-10-235. "Climate Change and Health: Residential Energy Efficiency for Comfort and Equity". $410,000.

  • 2016: African Studies Center, University of Michigan. "Mapping Land Cover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia". $6,000.

  • 2011-2014: Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute & Kresge Foundation. "Great Lake Cities Climate Adaptation Planning". $1,200,000. Principal Investigator along with Arun Agarwal (SNRE), Elisabeth Gerber (Public Policy), Maria Carmen Lemos (SNRE), Marie O’Neill (Public Health), & Ricky Rood (OASS).

Education

PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (urban and regional planning)
MLA, University of Guelph (landscape architecture)
BS, University of Guelph (applied science)

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