Chingwen Cheng
Biography
Dr. Chingwen Cheng is Program Head and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Environmental Design at The Design School, and Senior Sustainability Scientist at Arizona State University. She is Affiliated Faculty for Urban Climate Research Center, Biomimicry Center, Global Drylands Center, & Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security at ASU.
Dr. Cheng's teaching, research, and practice engage transdisciplinary approaches for Climate Justice Design integrating environmental justice theory, spatial mixed-methods, systems design, and nature-based solutions, working with communities for co-developing research agenda and strategies to enhance community resilience and sustainability. Dr. Cheng applies Climate Justicescape framework investigating spatial patterns of socially vulnerable groups exposed to climate change-associated hazards and integrates social-ecological-technological systems and place-based design for building just, resilient, and sustainable development.
Dr. Cheng was a visiting scholar at the Risk Society and Policy Research Center and Research Center for Future Earth at the National Taiwan University, and a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan focusing on empirical environmental justice research. She is a Registered Professional Landscape Architect and LEED Accredited Professional with extensive professional experiences integrating participatory and transdisciplinary processes in watershed planning, stormwater management, Low-Impact Development, and community design in the United States. She currently serves on Climate Actions Committee and Environmental Justice Professional Practice Network at the American Society of Landscape Architects advocating justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in design education and professions.
Education
- Ph.D. Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
- M.L.A. Landscape Architecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- B.S. Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Research Interests
Current research applies resilience and environmental justice theories to investigate Climate Justicescape in both distributive and procedural justice outcomes in the social-ecological-technological systems at national, regional, and local communities. Dr. Cheng employs GIS and hydrological modeling to evaluate green infrastructure performance for their ecosystem services benefits and adaptive capacity to climate change. Moreover, Dr. Cheng investigates social-institutional resilience through conducting interviews and surveys to understand the linkage between climate risk perception and adaptation actions across institutional scales. In turn, Dr. Cheng developed the Climate Justice Design framework bringing science-informed knowledge into transdisciplinary-engaged planning and design process with communities toward resilience and sustainability.
Research Group
APRU SCL HUB Asia Pacific Rim Universities Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub
NATURA Nature-based solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene
UREx-SRN NSF Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainable Research Network
CAP LTER NSF Central Arizona Project Long-Term Ecological Research
UWIN NSF Urban Water Innovation Network
Publications
Wu, C.-F., Chen, S.-H., Cheng, C., & Trac, L.V.T. (2021). Climate Justice Planning in Global South: Applying a Coupled Nature–Human Flood Risk Assessment Framework in a Case for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Water. 13(15):2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13152021
Lai, C.-H., Liao, P.-C., Chen, S.-H., Wang, Y.-C., Cheng, C., & Wu, C.-F. (2021). Risk Perception and Adaptation of Climate Change: An Assessment of Community Resilience in Rural Taiwan. Sustainability. (13) 3651. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073651
Chang, H., Pallathadka, A., Sauer, J., Grimm, N., Zimmerman, R., Cheng, C., Iwaniec, D., Kim, Y., Lloyd, R., McPhearson, T., Rosenzweig, B., Troxler, T., Welty, C., Brenner, R., Herreros-Cantis, P. (2021). Assessment of Urban Flood Vulnerability Using the Social-Ecological-Technological Systems Framework in Six US cities. Sustainable Cities and Society. (68) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.102786
Cheng, C., & Trakas, A.* (2020). Arizona State University Orange Mall Phase I Green Infrastructure Project. Landscape Performance Series. Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) https://doi.org/10.31353/cs1641
Guswa, A.J., Hall, B., Cheng, C., & Thompson, J. (2020). Co-designed land-use scenarios and their implications for storm runoff and streamflow in New England. Environmental Management. 66(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01342-0
AlKhaled, S.*, Coseo, P., Brazel, A., Cheng, C., Sailor, D., (2020). Between aspiration and actuality: A systematic review of morphological heat mitigation strategies in hot urban deserts. Urban Climate (31). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2019.100570
Cheng, C. (2019). Climate justicescape and implications for urban resilience in American cities. In: Burayidi, M., Twigg, J., Allen, A., & Wamlester, C. (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Urban Resilience (pp. 83-96). New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Books.
Cheng C. (2019). EcoWisdom for Climate justice planning: Social-ecological vulnerability assessment in Boston’s Charles River watershed. In: Yang B., Young R. (eds), Ecological Wisdom: Theory and Practice (pp. 249-265). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0571-9_13
Rosenzweig, B. R., McPhillips, L., Chang, H., Cheng, C., Welty, C., Matsler, M., Iwaniec, D., & Davidson, C. (2018). Urban pluvial flood risk and opportunities for resilience. WIREs e1302. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1302
Cheng, C., Tsai, J-Y, Yang, E. Y-C, Esselman, R., Kalcic, M., Mohai, P., & Xu, X. (2017). Risk communication and climate justice planning: A case for Michigan’s Huron River watershed. Urban Planning Journal. 2(4) p34-50. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v2i4.1045
Cheng, C., Yang, E. Y.-C., Ryan, R.L., Yu, Q. & Brabec, E. (2017). Assessing climate change-induced flooding mitigation for adaptation in Boston’s Charles River Watershed. Landscape and Urban Planning, 167, 25-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.05.019
Cheng, C., Ryan, R.L., Warren, P.S. & Nicolson, C. (2017). Exploring stakeholders’ perceptions of urban growth scenarios for metropolitan Boston (USA): The relationship between urban trees and perceived density. Cities and The Environment (CATE). 10 (1) 7. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/vol10/iss1/7/
Cheng, C. (2016). Spatial climate justice and green infrastructure assessment: A case for the Huron River watershed, Michigan, USA. GI_Forum, Vol 1, 179-190. https://doi.org/10.1553/giscience2016_01_s176
Cheng, C. (2014). Resilience thinking in landscape planning: A transdisciplinary framework and a case for climate change adaptation. Landscape Research Record, No.2, 178-189.
Danford, R., Cheng, C., Strohbach, M.S., Nicolson, C., Ryan, R. L. & Warren, P.S. (2014). What does it take to achieve equitable urban tree canopy distribution? A Boston case study. Cities and The Environment (CATE), Vol 7: Iss. 1, Article 2. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/vol7/iss1/2
Cheng, C., Brabec, E.A., Yang, Y. & Ryan, R.L. (2013). Rethinking stormwater in a changing world: Effects of detention for flooding hazard mitigation under climate change scenarios in the Charles River watershed. Landscape Research Record, No.1, 214-228.
Cheng, C. (2013). Social vulnerability, green infrastructure, urbanization and climate change-induced flooding: A risk assessment for the Charles River watershed, Massachusetts, USA. University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts.
Research Activity
Hydro-GI Lab, Director
Courses
| Fall 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| EDS 301 | Sustainable Comm Dgn/Practices |
| EDS 484 | Internship |
| LDE 521 | Adv Landscape Arch Studio I |
| MUD 590 | Reading and Conference |
| LDE 621 | Adv Landscape Arch Studio III |
| EPD 790 | Reading and Conference |
| EPD 792 | Research |
| Spring 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| LDE 462 | Landscape Arch IV |
| LAP 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| LAP 494 | Special Topics |
| LAP 598 | Special Topics |
| Fall 2020 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| EDS 301 | Sustainable Comm Dgn/Practices |
| LPH 411 | Landscape ArchTheory/Criticism |
| EPD 790 | Reading and Conference |
| Spring 2020 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| LDE 462 | Landscape Arch IV |
| LAP 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| LAP 493 | Honors Thesis |
| Fall 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| LAP 493 | Honors Thesis |
| LDE 521 | Adv Landscape Arch Studio I |
| LAP 592 | Research |
| LPH 598 | Special Topics |
| Summer 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| DSC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| DSC 584 | Internship |
| Spring 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| ALA 102 | Landscapes and Sustainability |
| EPD 799 | Dissertation |
| Fall 2018 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| ALA 102 | Landscapes and Sustainability |
| LDE 461 | Landscape Architecture III |
| LAP 493 | Honors Thesis |
| LDE 521 | Adv Landscape Arch Studio I |
| LAP 592 | Research |
| SOS 790 | Reading and Conference |
| EPD 792 | Research |
| EPD 799 | Dissertation |
| Spring 2018 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| ALA 102 | Landscapes and Sustainability |
| LDE 462 | Landscape Arch IV |
| LAP 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| EPD 792 | Research |
| EPD 799 | Dissertation |
| Fall 2017 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| LDE 521 | Adv Landscape Arch Studio I |
| MUD 590 | Reading and Conference |
| DSC 592 | Research |
| LPH 598 | Special Topics |
| EPD 780 | Practicum |
| SOS 790 | Reading and Conference |
| Spring 2017 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| ALA 102 | Landscapes and Sustainability |
| LDE 462 | Landscape Arch IV |
| EPD 690 | Reading and Conference |
| EPD 780 | Practicum |
Honors/Awards
2020 Educator of the Year, Arizona Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects (AZASLA)
2019 Directors Choice Award for Services, The Design School, Arizona State University
2016-2017 Centennial Professorship Award, Associated Students of Arizona State University
Professional Associations
2019-present Chair, Vulnerable, Resilient, and Climate Justice Communities Working Group in Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub, Asia Pacific Rim Universities (APRU)
2017-present Co-Chair, Landscape Planning+Ecology Track, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA)
2018-2020 Co-Chair, American Society of Landscape Architects Environmental Justice Professional Network (ASLA EJ PPN)
2017-2020 Board of Directors, Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA)