SDSS Solution Areas - Sustainable Cities RFP
The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability is embarking on the next frontiers of urgent work in sustainability through Solution Areas — a new portfolio of eight solutions-oriented research efforts that will amplify impact on a dynamic and interconnected set of sustainability challenges.
Within the Sustainable Cities Solution Area, we aim to inspire and nurture transdisciplinary research collaborations organized around a decade-long research horizon with multiple cycles of projects dedicated to producing evidence, knowledge, and solutions meeting the needs of decision-makers, community members, and other actors to address sustainability challenges arising in cities.
Efforts supported through this Request for Proposals (RFP) will foster collaborations across faculty, build powerful partnerships and research outcomes with an aim to develop and implement large-scale, ambitious Integrative Projects in the future.
Strategic Focus of this RFP
Cities are at the forefront of addressing some of the world’s most critical sustainability challenges. The effects of climate change, rapid urbanization, and shifting societal needs are straining urban systems and models of governance. Developing and renewing cities for increased sustainability requires research that fosters resource-efficient urban systems, reimagines infrastructure, and ensures cities become spaces where equitable well-being is possible. This effort depends on innovative technologies to minimize environmental footprints, new policy frameworks to advance sustainable and inclusive growth, and active partnerships with cities and communities to understand and help meet diverse needs.
This RFP invites research proposals that will advance equitable, sustainable, and resilient urban development. By fostering solutions that are co-created with city partners, informed by cutting-edge research, and responsive to rapid, unpredictable change, we aim to empower cities to serve as catalysts for a more sustainable future.
Scope
A key goal of this seed grant program is to develop sustainable cities research that is partner-engaged, incorporates systems thinking, and takes note of the necessary and sufficient conditions to scale and spread effective solutions. To this end:
- Proposed research must be clearly related to the goal of advancing sustainable urban development and must include one or more non-academic, city-focused partnerships relevant to the problem or knowledge gap being addressed.
- Proposals should adopt a systems perspective that maps connections between the project and relevant systems within the project location, and identifies potential unintended consequences of the project and how they will be monitored.
- Researchers are encouraged to contextualize the proposed project in terms of the geographic, socioeconomic, and/or political factors that will shape both the project outcomes and their relevance to other urban areas.
Ideally, at the end of the grant period, teams would be well-positioned to meet the Integrative Project criteria and draft a proposal for an ambitious 3-5 year, $1.5-$3 million project.
Priority Areas
In addition to the above criteria, preference will be given to high-impact projects that align with the following three broad areas. Additional high-impact areas will also be considered.
- Decarbonizing the Built Environment: Materials, technologies, practices, and policies to reduce the carbon footprint of constructing, operating, and maintaining urban infrastructure and buildings.
- Increasing Resilience to Climate Shocks and Long-term Change: Innovations that enhance cities’ ability to withstand and recover from extreme weather events, and to plan for and adapt to climatic changes over time.
- Managing Growth, Displacement, and Population Change: Strategies to protect vulnerable populations and ensure equitable access to resources and opportunities in the face of challenges such as aging infrastructure, federal regulatory constraints, and climate impacts.
Award Amounts & Duration
Proposals are invited for Tier 1 grants of up to $100,000, and Tier 2 grants of up to $250,000. Between 6 and 8 grants are anticipated during this award cycle.
- Decarbonizing the Built Environment
- Increasing Resilience to Climate Shocks and Long-term Change
- Managing Growth, Displacement, and Population Change
Each proposal team must include a Stanford faculty or researcher who qualifies as a Principal Investigator (PI) according to Stanford University Policy. A PI may submit more than one proposal, but only one proposal is likely to receive funding in a given award cycle.
PIs and Co-PIs who accept a Sustainable Cities Solution Area grant must agree to (1) attend and present the results of their work at a Sustainable Cities seminar or forum event, and (2) serve as a reviewer for the Sustainable Cities Solution Area grant program in a subsequent award cycle.
Timely and substantive reporting on the value derived from seed grants is important for us to continue and expand our grant programs. Within two months of their award end date, recipients must provide a final report of their research findings and associated outputs (e.g., publications, grant applications, articles, or conference talks), along with any plans to carry the research forward. The report should comment on the potential for scale and spread of any solutions developed or tested as part of the project, in particular identifying the conditions under which such solutions are expected to be relevant and effective.
Recipients of Tier 2 grants will also be required to provide a progress report within a month of the end of the first year of the grant period. Upon conclusion of their 2-year project, teams will also be asked to share their findings through a webinar, recorded interview, or podcast organized by the Sustainable Cities initiative and/or Solution Areas program.
Award funds may be used to support salary and tuition for faculty, graduate students, and other research staff; research supplies and minor equipment; and travel directly associated with the research activity. Funding may also be used to support partner organizations when those costs have been clearly delineated and justified in the budget justification.
In general, funds should not be used for administrative or general staff support at Stanford, nor for consultants and contractors, although requests for exceptions will be considered in extraordinary cases.
