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Chingwen Cheng

Stuckeman School Director and Professor of Landscape Architecture
Headshot of Chingwen Cheng
Contact
cvc6428@psu.edu
814-863-8133
121 Stuckeman
Instagram @hydro_gi
Twitter @Chingwen_Cheng
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Chingwen Cheng began her role as director of the Stuckeman School on July 1, 2023. Previously the program head and associate professor of landscape architecture, urban design, and environmental design at the Design School at Arizona State University, Cheng is a climate justice design educator and advocate for climate actions through co-designing nature-based solutions with communities.

A recipient of grants from the National Science Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, and others, Cheng has received more than half a million dollars in funding for her research from 2013-2023. She was twice named Landscape Architecture Foundation Case Study Investigator to document landscape performances in sustainability outcomes. Cheng founded and directed the Hydro-GI Lab, focusing on the evaluation of both design process and outcomes of nature-based solutions for climate justice design. Her studies include evaluation of social-ecological landscape performance and investigation of sustainable and resilient urban water systems design through hydrological modeling and field experiments, as well as surveys and participatory engagement. In addition, Cheng integrated theories in social vulnerability and environmental justice to create the “Climate Justicescape” assessment framework, which identifies priorities for green infrastructure investment in communities.

Cheng has collaborated across disciplines to assess the state of knowledge in green infrastructure and stormwater control measures, and to determine the sustainability outcomes and ecosystem services provided by landscapes and outdoor environments toward urban resilience. Over the last decade, she has published 19 peer-reviewed journal articles and nine book chapters, including pieces in high-impact journals such as Landscape and Urban Planning, Environmental Management, Urban Climate, Sustainability, Ecosphere, Frontiers in Water, and others.

Cheng has engaged with several research hubs and networks worldwide, including chairing the Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene Design for Justice thematic working group and Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Sustainable Cities and Landscapes (SCL) Vulnerable, Resilient, and Climate Justice Communities working group, with ongoing projects on design justice theoretical frameworks. In addition, she is on the steering committee for the APRU SCL research hub. Through APRU’s partnership with several international organizations in the United Nations, Cheng chaired an urban resilience learning module in the Asia Pacific Mayors Academy targeting new mayors from less developed countries.

Cheng is a Registered Professional Landscape Architect and LEED-Accredited Professional with extensive experience integrating transdisciplinary co-design processes in watershed planning, stormwater management, low-impact development, and community design in the United States. She received the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Illinois Chapter Honor Award, and her students have received awards from the Arizona and Hawaii chapters. One of her studio projects received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency RainWorks Challenge second prize. The Arizona ASLA chapter named her Educator of the Year. Cheng has been active in climate action-focused groups in ASLA at the national level, including serving on the ASLA Climate Action Plan Advisory Group and Climate Action Committee, and co-chairing the Environmental Justice Professional Practice Network.

Cheng holds a doctorate in regional planning, master of landscape architecture degree, and a bachelor of science degree in horticulture and landscape architecture.

  • Education
    • Ph.D. in Regional Planning from University of Massachusetts, Amherst
    • M.L.A. from the University of Michigan
    • B.S. in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University
  • Honors + Awards
    • Knowledge Enterprise Honorable Mention (outstanding research and scholarship), The Design School, Arizona State University, 2023.
    • Diversity Virtual Travel Awards (mentor), 2021 IALE-North America Annual Meeting, North American Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology.
    • U.S. EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge 2019, Second Place, Demonstration Project Category (advisor), 2020.
    • Educator of the Year, Arizona Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects (AZASLA), 2020.
    • Director’s Choice Award for Services, The Design School, Arizona State University, 2019.
    • Centennial Professorship Award, Associated Students of Arizona State University, 2017.
    • Student Conference Scholarship, Environmental Design Research Association 44th annual conference (EDRA 44), 2013.
    • Sustainability Conference Graduate Scholar Award, Common Ground Publishing, 2012.
    • Study Abroad Scholarship, Ministry of Education, Taiwan ($50,000), 2007.
    • Professional Honor Award: Rt.47/Kishwaukee corridor Land Use & Transportation Plan, Illinois Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects (ILASLA), 2003.

    EXTERNAL RESEARCH GRANTS

    • 2022: Co-Investigator. $100,000, 100% effort. Funded by Wells Fargo Foundation under Marseille, A. (PI), Levine, A. O’Brien, K., Iacona, G., Meyer, M., Sampson, B., Yatabe, N., Gowda, T.L., Buch, R., Groeneveld, J., Ness, T. ASU. Sustainable Urban Ecology (SUE).
    • 2022: Principal Investigator (PI). $87,114, 100% effort. Partner with Local First Arizona. Funded by Arizona Maricopa County Industrial Development Authority (MCIDA) managed by Healthy Urban Environments (HUE) program, Arizona State University Foundation. Sustainable, Resilient, and Just Environmental Design Performance Scale Up Tool for Heat Mitigation in Phoenix Metro Area.
    • 2022: $5,600, 100% effort. Funded by Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Case Study Investigation (CSI) Program. El Paso Pedestrian Pathways, TX.
    • 2020: PI. $5,600, 100% effort. Funded by Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Case Study Investigation (CSI) Program. ASU Tempe Orange Mall Green Infrastructure.
    • 2020-21: PI. $2,500, 100% effort. Funded by American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Landscape Architecture Technical Information Series (LATIS). A Practitioner’s Guide to Environmental Justice.
    • 2019-20: Faculty Collaborator. $150,000. Engle, J. (PI), Welch, J. (Co-PI), Manoa Heritage Center,  O’Neill, T. (Co-PI) University of Hawai’i Manoa. Funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Hawaii Program. Connecting K-12 Schools and Community Organizations to Create Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience Learning Journeys.
    • 2018-19: Faculty Collaborator. $6,600 (NTD$ 200,000) 25% effort. 3 months. Additional award to an existing award led by PI Dr. Yao, G.C., at National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, to promote international collaboration. Funded by Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Add-On Program. Community Engagement for Adaptive Capacity in Resilient Communities Case Studies.
    • 2018-22: Co-Investigator. 2% allocation. $4.5M for 4 years. Arizona State University. Funded by National Science Foundation (NSF). Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) Design with Nature: Investigating urban ecology and sustainability through the lens of Urban Ecological Infrastructure.
    • 2016-18: Co-Investigator. 2% allocation. no-cost extension from previous award of $2.25M. Arizona State University. Funded by National Science Foundation. Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) Design with Nature:  Investigating urban ecology and sustainability through the lens of Urban Ecological Infrastructure.
    • 2011: PI. $4,999, 100% effort. one semester. University of Massachusetts Amherst.  This grant was awarded for the support of a graduate landscape architecture studio service-learning project. Funded by Town of Braintree, MA. Monatiquot River Watershed Study.
  • Publications + Presentations

    RESEARCH ARTICLES AND REPORTS

    • Choat, B., Pulido, A., Bhaskar, A.S., Hale, R.L., Zhang, H.X., Meixner, T., McPhillips, L.E., Hopkins, K., Cherrier, J., & Cheng, C. (2023). Assessing stormwater control measure inventories from 23 cities in the United States. Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/acc759
    • Sanchez, C.A.*, Cheng, C., Childers, D.L., York, A. (2023). Transdisciplinary Co-design and Implementation of an Urban Ecological Green Infrastructure Landscape Performance Monitoring Plan. In: Gomes Sant’Anna, C., Mell, I., Schenk, L.B.M. (eds) Planning with Landscape: Green Infrastructure to Build Climate-Adapted Cities. Landscape Series, vol 35. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18332-4_11
    • Porse, E., Cheng, C., Hughes, S., & Napawan, C. (2022). Editorial: Urban water management, planning, and design: Links, opportunities, and challenges. Frontiers in Water, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2022.1010318
    • McPhearson, T., Cook, E.M., Berbés-Blázquez, M., Cheng, C., Grimm, N.B., Andersson, E., Barbosa, O., Chandler, D.G., Chang, H., Chester, M.V., Childers, D.L., Elser, S.R., Frantzeskaki, N., Grabowski, Z., Groffman, P., Hale, R.L., Iwaniec, D.M., Kabisch, N., Kennedy, C., Markolf, S.A., Matsler, A.M., McPhillips, L.E., Miller, T.R., Muñoz-Erickson, T.A., Rosi, E., Troxler, T.G. (2022). A social-ecological-technological systems framework for urban ecosystem services. One Earth. (5)5:505-518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.04.007
    • Gaiser, E.E., Kominoski, J.S., McKnight, D.M., Bahlai, C.A., Cheng, C., Record, S., Wollheim, W., Christianson, K.R., Downs, M.R., Hawman, P.A., Holbrook, S.J., Kumar, A., Mishra, D.R., Molotch, N.P., Primack, R.B., Rassweiler, A., Schmitt, R.J., Sutter, L. (2022). Long-term ecological research and the COVID-19 anthropause: A window to understanding social-ecological disturbance. Ecosphere. (2)14:e4019 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4019
    • Choat, B., Pulido, A., Bhaskar, A. S., Hale, R. L., Zhang, H. X., Meixner, T., McPhillips, L., Hopkins, K., Cherrier, J., & Cheng, C. (2022). A Call to Record Stormwater Control Functions and to Share Network Data. Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment. 8(2): 02521005 https://doi.org/10.1061/JSWBAY.0000971
    • 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
    • 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), 7(1)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.

    SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

    • Moderator. Cheng, C. (2021). Urban Resilience Open Forum. International Conference on Human Settlements Planning and Development (ICHSPD) Conference. October 20-22, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines. virtual.
    • Cheng, C. (2021). Intersection between Systemic Vulnerability, Community Resilience, Climate Justice and Sustainability. Earth Future Taipei Early Career Researchers Webinar Series. June 4, Taipei, Taiwan. virtual.
    • Cheng, C. (2021). Resilience Theory and Practices. Asia Pacific Mayors Academy for Sustainable Development, Module 4: Urban Resilience. February 9, Bangkok, Thailand. virtual.
    • Cheng, C. (2019). One Water: Integrated water resources management and design. Department of Civil Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, December 24, Tainan, Taiwan.
    • Cheng, C. (2019). Climate Justice and Resilient Communities. Department of Urban Planning, National Cheng Kung University, December 23, Tainan, Taiwan.
    • Cheng, C. (2019). Process matters more than products! Engaging communities in green infrastructure design: tools and practices. Department of Landscape Architecture, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, December 18, Taichung, Taiwan.
    • Cheng, C. (2018). Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Graduate studies of public policies and economics, Institute of Political Economy, National Cheng Kung University, December 25, Tainan, Taiwan.
    • Cheng, C. (2018). Adaptation and Action for Coping with Climate Change in Spatial Planning. Resilience Community Case Study Forum. Department of Urban Planning, National Cheng Kung University, October 26, Tainan, Taiwan.
  • Service + Affiliations
    • 2023-
      President, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA)
    • 2022-23
      President-Elect, CELA
    • 2022-
      Member, Climate Action Plan Advisory Group, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
    • 2021-
      Member, Climate Actions Advocacy and Communication Working Groups in Climate Actions Committee, ASLA
    • 2021-
      Immediate Past Co-Chair, Leadership Team, ASLA Environmental Justice Professional Practice Network (EJ PPN)
    • 2021-
      Steering Committee Member, Association of Pacific Rim University (APRU) Sustainable Cities and Landscapes (SCL) Hub
    • 2020-
      Lead Organizer and Instructor, Module 4 Urban Resilience, Asia-Pacific Mayors Academy
    • 2019-
      Chair, Vulnerable Community Working Group in the Association of Pacific Rim University (APRU) Sustainable Cities and Landscapes (SCL)
    • 2019-22
      Member, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Institutional Governance Committee
    • 2019-20
      Chair-Elect, Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Board of Directors
    • 2019-20
      Chair, EDRA 51 Conference Committee, EDRA 51 Transform: Socially Embedded Collaboration, April 4-7, 2020, Tempe, Arizona
    • 2018-19
      Secretary and Interim Treasurer, EDRA Executive Board of Directors
    • 2018-22
      Co-Chair, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Landscape Planning and Ecology Track
    • 2018-20
      Co-Chair, ASLA EJ PPN
    • 2017-18
      Leadership Team Member, Communications Officer, ASLA EJ PPN
    • 2017-18
      Interim Secretary, EDRA Executive Board of Directors

    PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

    • The Honor Society of Sigma Lambda Alpha
    • American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
    • International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE)
    • Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP)
    • Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA)
    • Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA)
    • U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

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