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Courtney Crosson is a licensed architect and assistant professor at the University of Arizona, where she teaches classes on water in the built environment and community outreach studios. These studios, funded by the city, county or private practice, tackle critical issues in urban sustainability. Through exhibitions, books, presentations, workshops and even board games, the design work seeks to go beyond the studio and engage citizens and governments in solutions for their cities. Several of the designs produced in her studios have received public funding to be constructed. Her current research advances decentralized water systems to address pressing problems facing cities—whether water scarcity in the U.S. Southwest or safe and affordable water access in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals in architecture, engineering and planning. She has won numerous awards for her teaching, outreach and research. Most notably, she received the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) national President’s Award for Educational and Environmental Collaboration and Excellence in 2017 and the Association for Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) / American Institute of Architects (AIA) national Practice and Leadership Award in 2018. She is currently serving an elected three-year term on the national board of the ACSA as a director at-large. She served on the AIA Los Angeles Board from 2013-2015. Crosson holds a Master of Architecture from Yale University and an Art History BA from Duke University. Crosson’s work outside academia spans many scales and locations including Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. She has worked for BuroHappold Engineers in Los Angeles, Foster + Partners in Hong Kong, Muf Architecture/Art in London, Multiplicity in Milan and UN Habitat in a Nairobi informal settlement called Kibera. At BuroHappold she was the sustainability consultant for the net zero energy design of the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Atelier Peter Zumthor), University of California Santa Barbara’s Institute for Energy Efficiency (Kieran Timberlake Architects) and the net zero water and energy design of the new Santa Monica City Hall extension (Frederick Fisher Architects). At the master plan scale, she has guided energy and water reduction frameworks at Rice University, Los Angeles Union Station and University of California San Diego. Crosson’s first net zero design has been in operation since 2009; a seven-acre secondary girls boarding school in Muhuru Bay, Kenya, for which she was the project manager and lead designer.

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Courses
  • WEB
    Water Efficiency in Buildings

Grants
  • Funding agency logo
    DISES-RCN: Identifying Cross-Cutting Challenges Toward a Net Zero Urban Water (NZUW) Future in the Southwest

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2022

    $500.0K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Tucson Climate Action and Adaptation Plan

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2022

    $13.0K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Multi-Benefit Design Solutions for Tucson Roads

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2020

    $10.0K
  • Funding agency logo
    Downtown Tucson, 2050

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2019

    $10.0K
  • Funding agency logo
    Multi-Use Basin Solutions for Tucson Project

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2019

    $10.0K
  • Funding agency logo
    Urban Transportation System Flood Vulnerability Assessment with Special Reference to Low Income and Minority Neighborhoods

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2018

    $20.0K
  • Funding agency logo
    Downtown Tucson 2050

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2018

    $10.0K
  • Funding agency logo
    The Multi-Use Basin Solutions For Christmas, Ruthrauff, Airport and Alamo Basins

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2018

    $5.0K
  • Funding agency logo
    Tucson ECO District Study

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2017

    $10.0K
News
  • Women in climate change: Courtney Crosson

    2022

  • Neighborhood Farms Could be the Answer to Tucson's Food Deserts

    2021

Publications (29)
Recent
  • Four Modes of Engagement: Positioning University Urban Design and Research Centers for the Future

    2022

  • A GIS-based approach to assessing the capacity of rainwater harvesting for addressing outdoor irrigation

    2022

  • Rainwater as a renewable resource to achieve net zero urban water in water stressed cities

    2021

  • Parks as Performative Landscapes: Networked Green Infrastructure for a Flooded Desert City

    2021

  • Answering the Supply–Demand Gap with Alternative Water Sources: Retrofitting Cities to Achieve Net Zero Urban Water

    2021

  • Designing “Complete Green Streets” for Multiple Benefits: Improving equity, increasing safety, and reducing flooding across the multimodal transportation network

    2021

  • Willingness to Invest in a Carbon and Water Neutral Future: Mobilizing Community Decision-Making and Anchoring Bias

    2020

  • A Model for Community and Criticality: The University Urban Design and Research Center

    2020

  • Net Zero Urban Water from Concept to Applications: Integrating Natural, Built, and Social Systems for Responsive and Adaptive Solutions

    2020

  • Urban Transportation System Flood Vulnerability Assessment with Special Reference to Low Income and Minority Neighborhoods

    2020

  • The Citizen-Architect: Evaluating an Interactive Game for Collaborative Urban Solutions and Green Infrastructure Success

    2020

  • Agency and Adaptation: the built environment of the Kibera Slum Upgrading Project

    2020

  • The Potential of Green Infrastructure in Mitigating Flood Impacts on the Mobility of Low Income and Minority Neighborhoods

    2020

  • Optimize urban food production to address food deserts in regions with restricted water access

    2020

  • Beyond the Centralized Paradigm: Retrofitting Cities with Decentralized Energy, Transportation, and Water

    2020

  • The Ensuing Flood: Increasing Equity and Reducing Impact through Networked Decentralized Infrastructure

    2019

  • Advances in Green Infrastructure Research, Development, and Community Adoption III Posters

    2019

  • Envisioning the Future of Our Cities: Mobilizing Community Decision-Making with the Anchoring Effect

    2019

  • Beyond the Centralized Paradigm: Retrofitting Cities with Decentralized Infrastructure for Sustainable Success

    2019

  • Reducing Building Water Use Intensity (WUI): Tools for Academia and Practice

    2019

  • A Model for Public-Private-Academic Partnership

    2018

  • Creating Our Own Ladder to Climb

    2018

  • Innovating the Urban Water System: Achieving a Net Zero Water Future Beyond Current Regulation

    2018

  • Afraid of Night

    2017

  • Shades of Green Modifying Sustainability Rating Systems for Transit Center Functionality

    2017

  • Achieving Net Positive Water: Our Regenerative Future within Current Regulation

    2016

  • Achieving net zero water in severe drought prone areas: a case study of catchment, storage, and infiltration optimization

    2016

  • Urban Informality and Slum Upgrading: Kibera, Kenya

    2007

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