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Sara Hughes

Sara Hughes
Assistant Professor
Environmental Policy and Planning
Climate + Energy
Water
Cities + Mobility + Built Environment
hughessm@umich.edu
(734) 647-1209
Office
G170 Dana
Websites
Website

About

Professor Hughes studies policy agendas, policy analysis, and governance processes, focusing on decisions about water resources and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Current projects examine the political and institutional dimensions of equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water in the U.S.; the role of municipal finances in drinking water management and investments; and urban climate change governance, including equitable approaches to building urban climate resilience.

Publications

Books: 

Hughes, Sara. 2019. "Repowering Cities: Governing Climate Change Mitigation in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto," Cornell University Press

Hughes, Sara, Eric Chu, and Susan Mason. 2018. "Climate Change in Cities: Innovations in Multilevel Governance," Springer Press

 

Selected Books Articles:

Hughes, Sara, Sarah Dobie, Kirsten Schwarz, Genevieve LaMarr LeMee, Madeleine Lane, Andres Gonzalez. Forthcoming. “Centering Racial Justice in Urban Flood Resilience Policy and Planning: Tools for practitioners and stakeholders,” Environmental Justice

Hughes, Sara, Sarah Giest, and Laura Tozer. 2020. “Accountability and Data-Driven  Urban Climate Governance,” Nature Climate Change 10: 1085-1090.

Hughes, Sara. 2020 “Flint, Michigan and the Politics of Safe Drinking Water in the US,” Perspectives on Politics, First View, pp. 1-14. doi:10.1017/S153759272000136X.

Hughes, Sara. 2020. “Principles, Drivers, and Policy Tools for Just Climate Change Adaptation in Legacy Cities,” Environmental Science and Policy, Vol. 111, pp. 35-41.

Hughes, Sara and Matthew Hoffmann. 2020. “Just Urban Transitions: Toward a Research Agenda,” WIREs Climate Change, e640. doi: 10.1002/wcc.640 

 

Research

National Science Foundation, 2021-2024
“Feeling the Squeeze: How Financial Stress Shapes Decision-Making and the Resilience of Municipal Drinking Water Systems” 

Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant, 2020-2024
“The 100 Resilient Cities Initiative: A Natural Experiment in the Politics of Creating a Sustainable World” (with Matthew Hoffmann, University of Toronto)

University of Michigan Poverty Solutions, 2020-2021
“Understanding How Poverty Affects Water Affordability in Detroit”

University of Michigan Graham Sustainability Institute, 2020-2021
“Supporting Justice in Urban Climate Change Adaptation”

 

Education

PhD in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara

In the News
Wege speaker: Everyone has a role in saving the planet
February 24, 2022

Wege speaker: Everyone has a role in saving the planet

For the environmental movement to be effective, it must be something that everyone participates in, marine biologist and climate policy expert Ayana Elizabeth Johnson...

Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson to deliver Wege Lecture
February 18, 2022

Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson to deliver Wege Lecture

Marine biologist and climate policy expert Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson will deliver the Wege Lecture on Sustainability on February 23. Johnson is the co-founder of Urban...

MUSE Conference keynote: Addressing historic and predicted impacts of relocation upon Indigenous kinship
February 14, 2022

MUSE Conference talk advocates for transforming cities into more equitable and just places

The Michigan University-Wide Sustainability and Environment (MUSE) Conference concluded February 4 with keynote speaker Dr. Sara Hughes, an assistant professor in the...

GEO for Cities
November 18, 2021

GEO for Cities Launches

With the launch of Global Environment Outlook (GEO) for Cities, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has published its seventh GEO report since 1997. Assistant...

Research Highlights

Water running from the tap
September 15, 2021

Municipal takeover in Michigan: A rational, apolitical response to financial distress, or something else?

ANN ARBOR—Six of the 11 Michigan cities that have come under state emergency management since 1990 also saw changes to their municipal drinking water systems, the most...

Addressing links between poverty, housing, water access and affordability in Detroit
July 26, 2021

Addressing links between poverty, housing, water access and affordability in Detroit

ANN ARBOR—In a new study of access to clean and affordable water in Detroit, University of Michigan researchers found that about 10% of the city's population is "triple...

Addressing the Links Between Poverty, Housing and Water Access and Affordability in Detroit
June 23, 2021

Addressing the Links Between Poverty, Housing, and Water Access and Affordability in Detroit

By Sara Hughes, Kathryn Maloney, Anna Kaczmarek, Heather Newberry, and Elizabeth Wallace Introduction Ensuring water access and affordability for Detroit residents is...

In the Media
05/10/2022
Sara Hughes
Michigan’s "very big opportunity" in infrastructure windfall (Michigan Radio)
05/04/2022
Sara Hughes
Many rural towns have neglected drinking water systems for decades (WKAR-TV)
05/02/2022
Sara Hughes
After decades of neglect, bill coming due for Michigan’s water infrastructure (Michigan Radio)
03/11/2022
Sara Hughes
Michigan’s uneven and unequal approach to taking over municipal governments in financial distress is linked to local drinking water crises (London School of Economics Phelan US Centre Blog)
01/12/2022
Sara Hughes
An Alabama Town’s Sewage Woes Test Biden’s Infrastructure Ambitions (The New York Times)
12/13/2021
Sara Hughes
High costs, few customers: Benton Harbor water woes loom for Michigan cities (Bridge Michigan)
09/20/2021
Sara Hughes
EMs helped cause the Flint water crisis and changed other Michigan water systems, UM study shows (MLIve)
08/09/2021
Sara Hughes
Report: Racial disparities afflict EPA drinking water funds (E&E News)
04/05/2021
Sara Hughes
In Broad Strokes, Biden Infrastructure Plan Sketches a Future for Federal Water Spending (Great Lakes Now)
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