Duration: 10/01/2026 to 09/30/2031

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

The land-grant university (LGU) system was established when most U.S. residents lived in rural areas. Today, over 80% of the population lives in metropolitan regions, meaning the LGU research and Extension enterprise must evolve to meet urban needs in the 21st century. NRSP12 will address this need by focusing on urban systems using collaborative research. By building a national network and data infrastructure, NRSP12 will align research outputs with municipal decision-making needs and facilitate comparative studies across cities.

Specifically, this project will:

• Create and support national network of Integrated Research Nodes (IRNs) connecting researchers, Extension professionals, and urban stakeholders across key topic areas – including urban agriculture and food systems, nature-based solutions (NbS) and urban ecosystem services (with an emphasis on urban soils and green infrastructure) – to co-create research agendas and share best practices.
• Develop data archiving and sharing infrastructure that includes an interactive “Urban Map Room” that hosts a breadth of urban spatial data and an Urban Research Repository to assemble, store, and disseminate research outputs, methods, and resources related to urban resiliency.
• Provide professional development and training for scientists and Extension agents in systems thinking, resilience planning, and community-driven research approaches tailored to urban contexts.

Housed within the National Urban Research and Extension Center (NUREC) at WSU, this NRSP will leverage NUREC’s established Extension networks to ensure that knowledge is co-created with communities and translated into practice. Ultimately, NRSP12 will reinforce productive connections between public universities and urban communities, positioning the LGU system to deliver science-based solutions for complex urban challenges.

Statement of Issues and Justification

Issues and Justifications

This National Research Support Project (NRSP) is rooted in the fundamental mission of the LGU system by integrating research and extension to advance science as well as support communities. The focus of NRSP12 is on urban areas, which present unique and urgent knowledge gaps in the development of evidence-based solutions for climate resilience, food security, and public well-being for millions of people across the US.

Urbanization has long been focused on excluding the natural world, leaning on man-made infrastructure, technology, and ingenuity to create an optimal space for humans to gather, create, and thrive.  However, the near total exclusion of green spaces, food production, and non-human habitat have introduced fundamental, systematic weaknesses into cities that urbanites are now seeking to address. Over the last two decades, interest in urban ecosystem service initiatives have proliferated in cities nationwide and are viewed as promising pathways for shrinking food deserts, increasing local and regional biodiversity, and buffering negative impacts from changing patterns in regional temperature and precipitation. Yet, many of these perceived ecosystem service benefits cities use to justify investments and structural changes are derived from assumptions based on non-urban ecosystem and agricultural systems, or on urban-based findings from a specific location, neither of which may adequately capture the benefits and trade-offs of urban ecosystem investments when translated to different locations.  In response, new research foci and methodologies aimed at addressing these problems have exploded across the US, making major headway in our understanding of urban ecosystem services.  New knowledge is being generated in hundreds of urban locations, but efforts to align evaluation metrics to better compare results across locations and build nationwide research networks to tackle challenging issues and synthesize findings for advancing the field of urban ecosystem services are currently lacking [1] [2].  These research gaps are confirmed by stakeholder input highlighting that fragmented data systems and lack of cross-city knowledge synthesis are major barriers to effective decision-making and long-term planning.

NRSP12 is conceived as a research coordination and acceleration network. It will directly address the gaps and barriers identified above by focusing on urban research problem areas and providing supporting infrastructure for collaboration and synthesis. In the sections below, we outline the major research priority areas that structure this project, followed by the plan of work detailing how integrated research networks and a NRSP data hub will be created and managed to synthesize and accelerate our understanding of urban ecosystem services, and how we intend to track and evaluate the success of our network activities and outcomes. This integrated approach is justified by the breadth of urban challenges: urban areas are diverse, complex, and vary greatly from one another, and interdisciplinary approaches are needed to tackle issues like urban climate resilience or food security. By pooling resources and expertise across the national LGU network, NRSP12 will accelerate our understanding and knowledge of urban systems by synthesizing existing information and encouraging collaboration to address promising new research areas to inform our practical capacity to improve urban quality of life, in alignment with the LGU system’s mission to serve all communities.

Prerequisite Criteria

How is the NRSP consistent with the mission?

The goal of NRSP12 is to coordinate and advance research efforts across the US to better understand the benefits and trade-offs of investments in urban ecosystem services. This goal will be accomplished through a research network framework designed to facilitate nationwide coordination of research agendas and best practices, support the incubation of new and innovative projects, and synthesize existing information to help generalize findings and understand the impacts and benefits of urban ecosystem services at regional and national scales, allowing us to match the NRSP mission directly.

Research Hub Structure

NRSP12 does not propose a single, hypothesis-driven research study. Rather, it is a structured research network framework for connecting researchers, curating existing information, supporting new research initiatives, and communicating findings through shared, new technologies across three scales of key urban agricultural-focused ecosystem service research: Urban Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexuses; Nature-Based Solutions; and Urban Soils. Each of these three research areas will serve as an Integrated Research Node (IRN) within the NRSP12 research network further linking new knowledge and practical benefits across regional, local, and hyper-local areas of study.

Connecting Researchers: Each IRN is envisioned as a national network of peers who collaborate regularly to rapidly identify and address a broad set of interrelated urban challenges across scales and disciplines. We will recruit researchers nationally to engage in Research Synthesis and Acceleration Activities (RSAAs) and create opportunities for them to learn, connect, and work together through topical webinars for sharing disciplinary, topical, and practical expertise widely across the NRSP network, and monthly “Link & Learn” virtual events aimed at nurturing interdisciplinary team development.  Each IRN will have a Program Leader to coordinate that research community. These leaders will be responsible for facilitating communication and collaboration around thematically relevant data synthesis and accelerating new research efforts between researchers, and with stakeholders. They will also help steer the broader NRSP12 effort, assisting leadership in identifying cross-cutting themes, emerging issues, and in addressing unforeseen challenges.

Synthesizing Information and Supporting New Research: While the IRNs support thematic work, the broader goals of the research network also include the facilitation and acceleration of research along and between the IRNs. To support these broader goals, NRSP12 includes an innovative set of Research Synthesis and Acceleration Activities (RSAAs) that work within each IRN to build and grow expertise and knowledge to tackle broader urban challenges. Led by the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Center from Michigan State University and the Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach (CEREO) from Washington State University, the RSAAs focus on 1) providing NRSP participants with the necessary background and skills to successfully collaborate and engage in interdisciplinary research activities, 2) facilitating Synthesis Working Groups (SWGs), and 3) hosting Proposal Development Workshops. Interdisciplinary skill building will occur through webinars and workshops designed to increase shared understanding in heterogeneous teams and make it easier to establish collaborations among groups with different experiences, goals, cultures, and values. SWGs are year-long efforts within each IRN that explicitly seek to synthesize existing knowledge and data, address knowledge gaps and research needs using interdisciplinary approaches as the foundation for collaboration. SWGs would be topically focused and are expected to yield high-profile outcomes. Proposal Development Workshops (PDWs) facilitate the acceleration of emerging ideas across our IRNs and SWG activities. These workshops are designed to help participants form interdisciplinary teams, refine research questions, and craft compelling grant proposals over a two-month timeline. This structure builds on successful similar workshops our leadership team have led in the past (e.g. GROW Urban Agriculture workshop).

Enabling Technologies for Communicating Findings: Addressing complex urban issues and advancing new areas of science benefits from a flexible data infrastructure that supports deep integration and synthesis across disciplines, locations, and time. Currently, the data required to achieve these research goals exists in fragmented and inaccessible data streams. These datasets are often collected by different entities who use different units, scales of measurement, nomenclature, and data repositories. This means there is often no single-entry point for researchers exploring interdisciplinary questions, such as the interplay of tree canopy, air quality, and asthma rates in various cities. The Urban Data Hub, including an Urban Map Room and Research Repository, would serve as a national, open, standards-based data platform that collects, assembles, stores, curates, and distributes urban datasets (incl., soils, green infrastructure performance, FEW indicators, socio-demographics) alongside methods, instruments, and protocols so that nuance and results from different cities and studies can be compared consistently. This will further ensure consistency and accuracy in the research process, facilitating the comparison of results across different studies and regions; thus, enabling synthesis, meta-analysis, and evidence-based practice.ub will provide discovery, visualization, download, and contribution workflows with robust metadata and data templates to ensure national comparability and interoperability, thereby reducing barriers for teams to launch comparative and multi-site studies. 

Complementarity and non-duplication 

As designed, NRSP12 complements, rather than duplicates, existing multistate projects by supplying the core and foundational services (data, methods, collaboration venues, training, evaluation) that those projects can leverage. Housed within WSU’s National Urban Research and Extension Center (NUREC) and governed by a multi-region steering committee with SAES and Extension representation, NRSP12 links research and Extension from the outset, ensuring that research support activities are mission-aligned with the land-grant system’s obligation to deliver public benefit. Where appropriate, NRSP12 will coordinate with related efforts (e.g., urban agriculture (NE2401) and green infrastructure (NE2206), initiatives) to host their datasets, align metrics, and amplify dissemination. 

Long-term Planning

An important outcome of building these IRNs is the creation of a sustainable national network that persists beyond the NRSP’s funding period. To support ongoing collaboration and mutual benefit, each IRN will develop a sustainability plan – for instance, identifying long-term host institutions or integrating into existing national networks (such as NUREC, the National Urban Extension Leaders for the Extension side, or professional societies for researchers). By the end of the project, we anticipate that these IRNs will become largely self-sufficient communities that continue to drive urban research and innovation. In summary, the IRN approach enables continuous, structured collaboration across institutions, which is essential for tackling the multifaceted problems outlined in our research priorities.

How does the NRSP pertain to a national issue?

Why This Matters Nationally

Urbanization is a defining demographic and environmental trend in the United States. Urban communities face complex and interlinked challenges from climate change impacts, degraded soils, food and water insecurity, public health inequities, aging infrastructure, and limited access to nature and nature-based benefits. These issues are not confined to a single region; they affect cities in every state and across all land-grant university regions. As such, they represent a truly national challenge requiring coordinated support through shared infrastructure, robust research networks, and the translation of science to action through the integration of research, Extension, and stakeholder communities. NRSP12 offers a research network structure that coordinates researchers across three pressing research themes and across multiple scales. Through its innovative approaches it will increase research quality and comparability, accelerate new research efforts by providing real support to team building and proposal generation, strengthen Extension translation, and leave a lasting legacy of open data, shared methods, and a trained, connected community. This fulfills the NRSP mission to support, enable, and facilitate high-priority research across the LGU system.

Addressing National Issues

Urban Agriculture and Food–Energy–Water (FEW) Systems

Urban agriculture (UA) has re-emerged as a multifaceted strategy for urban sustainability and resilience, integrating food production directly into city systems. Studies show that UA can provide numerous benefits—ranging from improved food security to enhanced ecosystem services and social well-being—while still facing practical constraints [3] [4] [5].

A growing body of work emphasizes examining UA through the food–energy–water systems (FEWS) nexus to better manage resource trade-offs and synergies in a holistic way [6]. In practice, however, most cities continue to address food, water, and energy in isolation because of institutional silos [7]. Yet the ecological and social conditions in which UA operates present a unique opportunity to evaluate it through a FEWS lens and align it with the Sustainable Development Goals [3] [8].

Within this broader perspective on food production in cities, several national-scale issues are emerging. First, many new technological innovations—such as vertical farming and controlled-environment agriculture have not yet been evaluated for long-term sustainability, particularly in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals [8]. Second, traditional in-ground, uncontrolled environment urban agriculture systems differ substantially in both form and function from rural agroecosystems [9] [5]. Specifically in the context of urban soils and fragmented urban ecosystems [10] [11]. These differences highlight the need to reinvest in foundational agricultural research, especially on soil fertility management and integrated pest management specific to urban environments [5] [12].

Beyond these biophysical needs, additional research is required on urban food-system components such as supply chains, post-harvest processing, appropriate technologies, and innovation pathways [3]. Such work is necessary for urban agriculture to mature into an integrated part of the urban food system and to be effectively incorporated into urban planning [3].

Nature-Based Solutions and Ecosystem Services

Nature-based solutions (NbS) go hand-in-hand with urban agriculture efforts to leverage ecosystems and green infrastructure to address urban challenges, providing services like stormwater management, urban cooling, carbon sequestration, and public health benefits. NbS have gained prominence as multi-benefit strategies for urban sustainability and climate resilience [13]. Studies show that well-designed NbS can reduce flooding, mitigate heat islands, support biodiversity, and enhance human well-being. However, key debates center on their effectiveness and equitable implementation. Poorly planned projects may reinforce social inequities such as green gentrification, underscoring the need for community-engaged planning [14].

Another challenge is the gap between research and practice in deploying NbS at scale. Many cities pilot NbS projects but mainstreaming them into policy and infrastructure investment remains slow [1] [2]. Obstacles include fragmented governance, lack of long-term monitoring, and design approaches that do not account for local ecological conditions  [15] [1] [2]. To overcome these barriers, scholars recommend developing global knowledge networks for sharing NbS best practices, innovating financing models that value ecosystem services, and creating regionally adapted implementation strategies [15]. Interdisciplinary collaboration is likewise critical, integrating ecology, urban planning, engineering, and social sciences to fully quantify NbS benefits and optimize co-benefits [13] [14].

Urban Soils and Anthropogenic Landscapes

Urban soils, often heavily altered by construction, pollution, and other human activities, form the foundation of urban green infrastructure and urban agriculture. Although frequently overlooked, recent research shows that these soils provide essential ecosystem services, including carbon storage, stormwater regulation, nutrient cycling, and support for vegetation that improves air quality, reduces urban heat, and enables food production [16] [17].

A major recurring issue in urban soil science is contamination. Many city soils contain legacy pollutants such as lead from old paints and gasoline, posing health risks and constraining the growth of urban agriculture [18] [19]. Toxic metals and other contaminants often necessitate soil testing, remediation, or the use of clean substrates in raised beds to ensure food safety [18]. Identifying effective strategies to manage contamination—especially in-situ techniques—is an increasingly important focus of current research [20].

However, while contamination receives considerable attention, the physical and biological properties of urban soils remain comparatively understudied. These properties influence soil structure, water retention, microbial activity, and plant growth, yet they are rarely integrated into planning decisions [17]. For cities to effectively incorporate soil considerations into urban planning and design—particularly for NbS and urban agriculture—interdisciplinary approaches are required. Collaboration among soil scientists, ecologists, engineers, and public health researchers is essential for developing strategies that address contamination while also improving soil function [16].

Strengthening the condition and understanding of urban soils enhances the performance of both urban agriculture and nature-based solutions. Ultimately, improving urban soils is a key step toward building sustainable, healthy, and climate-resilient cities.

Conclusion

Across these three themes, a common thread is the need for integrated, interdisciplinary approaches to urban sustainability. Urban agriculture, nature-based solutions, and urban soil management all contribute to the resilience and livability of cities, yet their full potential is realized only when viewed as interconnected components of an urban system. Programs like NRSP12 can play a vital role by uniting agronomists, ecologists, soil scientists, urban planners, and policymakers around shared sustainability goals that not only span disciplinary, but spatial, boundaries. By fostering collaborative research networks similar to global initiatives for NbS, NRSP12 can advance holistic strategies that connect FEW innovations with green infrastructure and soil remediation. Such coordination will generate co-benefits for climate adaptation, public health, and resource security. The literature underscores that sustainable urban systems must integrate food systems, ecological infrastructure, and soil health rather than address them in isolation.

Leveraging the Best Minds and Resources 

Urban sustainability and resilience cannot be addressed by individual institutions acting alone. NRSP12 draws on expertise across the SAES system and beyond, integrating soil scientists, ecologists, engineers, social scientists, planners, and Extension professionals into coordinated IRNs. These networks provide platforms for cross-pollination of ideas, avoiding duplication of effort and enabling more rapid progress. Importantly, the project also plans to encourage researchers to work with municipalities, NGOs, and federal agencies, to ensure that science is co-produced with those responsible for implementation. 

Support Activities Relative to Other NRSPs 

NRSP12 is complementary to other NRSPs by providing support services that enable multistate research. While other NRSPs focus on specific agricultural production systems or specific components of production systems, NRSP12 focuses on the urban interface, a space that is often underrepresented but critically important for national sustainability. Its role is to provide opportunities for multi-state researcher networking, curation of existing information, support of new research initiatives, and mechanisms for communicating findings through shared, new technologies. By filling this gap, NRSP12 ensures that urban issues are fully integrated into the national agricultural experiment station and Extension agenda. 

Logical Progression and Building on Past Work 

This proposal builds directly on the increasing recognition of urban systems as a national priority for the land-grant system. Initiatives like NUREC, the National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL) network and recent USDA investments in urban agriculture, urban forestry, and heat health highlight the continuing need. NRSP12, and its integration with NUREC, provides a logical progression by offering a durable support framework to institutionalize and scale this work. Rather than a temporary project, it embeds the NRSP12 framework into existing, well-known institutions, enhancing our existing ability to support a wide array of multistate research and Extension efforts for years to come.

Rationale

Priority Established by ESCOP/ESS

This project aligns directly with national priorities identified by agInnovation and the ESCOP Science and Technology Committee (STC). The ESCOP Science Roadmap highlights the need for research support activities that advance agricultural science by addressing cross-cutting challenges such as sustainable production, resilient ecosystems, climate adaptation, water and soil stewardship, and stakeholder engagement. NRSP12 IRNs address issues related to Climate Change and Resilient Ecosystems (P1), Water Resilience (P2), Sustainable Food Systems (P3), Resilient Lands (P4), and Human Health and Nutrition (P5) through their focus on urban agricultural systems and the urban ecosystem, which serve as critical frontlines for food, energy, and water systems.

IRN Research Priority Areas

This research network focuses on three interconnected research priority areas that are critical for urban systems science and well suited for a collaborative, multi-state approach. Each IRN addresses a recognized knowledge gap and opportunity where a national effort can accelerate discovery and application across scales within the ESCOP Science Roadmap framework.

1. Urban Agriculture adn Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Systems

The broadest scale of assessment in this NRSP, the urban Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus, represents a complex set of interconnected linkages between external resources (e.g. water/energy inputs) and markets with internal production and community impact. The structure and function of the urban FEW determines how well communities can support and sustain community gardens, rooftop and Building-Integrated Agriculture (BIA), hydroponic and aquaponic systems, other forms of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), etc. that are believed to alleviate .

However, our understanding of urban FEW dynamics and trade-offs in cities is still in its infancy, despite the concept of urban agriculture having expanded rapidly across cities in response to increased need for food production and food security. Significant questions remain about scalability, appropriateness of the technologies, resource efficiency, societal impact, and the ecology of these systems in the built environment [22] [23] [24] [25]. For example, different production systems have different attributes and shortcomings that complicate their suitability and functionality [26] [27]. CEA and vertical farms enable year-round production but rely on high energy and infrastructure inputs [28]. In contrast, soil-based systems provide social and nutritional benefits but are space-limited, often encounter contaminated soil, and are restricted by lack of infrastructure and technical support  [27] [9]. Exploring these interactions, while standardizing data collection metrics, is an emerging and urgent research priority [29]. Examples of Roadmap related research in this area include work that explores:

FEW trade-offs (P1, P3, P4, P5): Quantifying energy, water, labor, and yield trade-offs among indoor, rooftop, agrivoltaics, soil-based, and other types of urban agriculture systems; and analyzing the connections between urban food production and regional agriculture systems to enhance resilience under climate and supply-chain stress.

Resource Efficiency (P2, P3, P4): How can urban agriculture systems be designed to optimize water reuse, renewable energy integration, and nutrient cycling without compromising food safety and economic viability?

Climate Resilience (P1, P4, P5): How do different urban agriculture models (e.g., rooftop farms, vertical farming, CEA, community gardens) influence the resilience of FEW systems under climate extremes, and what role can smart technologies and novel governance frameworks play in enhancing adaptive capacity and supporting equitable access to benefits?

2. Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) and Ecosystem Services

Cities worldwide are turning to non-agricultural nature-based solutions (NbS) – such as green roofs, street tree plantings, rain gardens, bioswales, urban wetlands, and pocket parks – to address challenges like flooding, extreme heat, air and water pollution, and declining biodiversity [13] [29] [30] [31]. These solutions leverage natural processes to provide ecosystem services in urban environments.

While NbS hold great promise for urban resilience, their adoption and effectiveness in U.S. cities are not yet well understood in a systematic way. Performance data on urban NbS (e.g., stormwater retention, temperature reduction, air quality improvement, or human health benefits) are often inconsistent or localized, making it difficult for planners to predict outcomes in new contexts [1] [2]. Governance of NbS can be fragmented – for example, responsibilities may be split between public works and parks departments, or between city and homeowner actions – which complicates maintenance and long-term success. There is also a need to examine trade-offs and unintended consequences. At present, much of the evidence for NbS benefits in urban areas remains anecdotal or site-specific. A coordinated research effort can help move from isolated case studies to a generalizable understanding of what works, where, and why in deploying NbS across different urban contexts. Examples of Roadmap related research in this area include work exploring:

The role and function of ecosystem services (P1, P2, P3, P4): Understanding how urban agriculture and other NbS can mitigate heat stress, manage stormwater, increase biodiversity to support pollination and nutrient cycling and improve urban environmental health.

Decentralized vs. centralized solutions (P1, P2, P3, P4). Comparing the effectiveness and cost-benefit of decentralized green infrastructure versus traditional centralized infrastructure. This includes analyzing how different urban density or land-use contexts influence which approach performs better.

Unintended consequences and trade-offs (P1, P2, P4, P5). Developing cross-site protocols to study potential unintended impacts of urban greening (e.g., does installing bioswales in a community lead to any displacement (gentrification) effects?) to maximize societal benefits and minimize inequities.

3. Urban Soils and Anthropogenic Landscapes

At the most local scale, NRSP12 explores how novel urban soils—often disturbed or manufactured, composed of fill, construction debris, and legacy contamination—affect our urban community’s health, infrastructure, agricultural, and ecosystem security [30] [31] [32] [33]. These soils are frequently used to support urban food production and green infrastructure initiatives; however, their properties in this regard remain poorly understood [34] Understanding and improving these soils is crucial for maintaining environmental health, sustaining food production, and promoting sustainable urban design.

Addressing questions of urban soil ecology and research gaps necessitates interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers. NRSP12 will coordinate multi-city and state efforts to study and improve urban soils as a foundation for resilient cities, including questions of nutrient cycling and leaching, legacy contamination (e.g., heavy metals, PFAS, microplastics) and impacts on community health, physical properties (i.e., infiltration and structure) that affect urban design and infrastructure, and biophysical properties such as microbial communities that are key to preserving ecosystem services. The complex and heterogenous nature of these soils must be explored in the context of suitability for a variety of green infrastructure activities in the built environment. Examples of Roadmap related research in this area include work exploring:

Soil Contamination and Community Health (P3, P4, P5): How do legacy pollutants and emerging contaminants in urban soils influence crop nutrient quality and human health risks, and what remediation strategies can balance food production with soil ecosystem integrity? The advancement of soil remediation techniques and technologies to mitigate and adapt to urban soil contamination, along with improving our understanding of the ecology and behavior of specific contaminants (e.g. lead, PFAS, and microplastics).

Soil-Ecosystem Links (P1, P3, P4, P5): How does soil microbial diversity in urban agricultural sites affect nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and resilience to climate stressors, and what design interventions can enhance these ecosystem services?

Soil-Structure Interactions (P2, P3, P4): In what ways can urban soil management practices (e.g., compaction reduction, organic amendments) improve stormwater infiltration and structural stability of green infrastructure while supporting productive and profitable urban agriculture?  

Relevance to Stakeholders

Identification of Stakeholders and Related Needs

The project is designed with a wide stakeholder base that spans the research, Extension, policy, and community landscape. Primary stakeholders include: 

Land-Grant University (LGU) Researchers and Experiment Stations: Faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students across SAES institutions, including ecologists, biologists, soil scientists, hydrologists, engineers, urban planners and social scientists will be engaged to develop standardized evaluation frameworks and to synthesize knowledge across cities, thereby accelerating the smart implementation of NRSP12 outcomes. NRSP12 will offer researchers unique opportunities to collaborate at broader scales and across disciplines and leverage the Urban Data Hub which should lower barriers to entry for urban research, provide standardized datasets, and enable cross-site comparisons. See interviews with selected researchers ( [37],  uploaded as an attachment), letters of support ( [38], uploaded as an attachment) [39]

Extension Professionals: County and urban Extension agents, NUEL (National Urban Extension Leaders) members, and program leaders who serve as translators of research to communities who can help translate research for managers interested in ensuring land and water resiliency for urban agricultural and ecological systems in the face of climate change and urbanization pressures. NRSP12 will allow Extension to access new research results, connect communities with research teams, and be more proactive in responding to urban agricultural and ecosystem challenges more easily (see attached letter of commitment from NUEL)

Government Agencies: Including local level city planners and sustainability offices [2] and state public health, environmental and agricultural departments who require credible science-based outputs to inform policy and decision-making as well as federal agencies (e.g. USDA, EPA, HUD, NOAA) that support urban sustainability and require national datasets and methods to inform programs and investments. NRSP12 will provide managers and policy-makers with access to a centralized, reliable platform for urban data that complements and extends existing datasets (e.g., USDA urban agriculture toolkit, EPA green infrastructure guidance). 

Community-Based Organizations and NGOs: In addition to urban Extension professionals, urban agriculture groups, neighborhood associations, food justice coalitions, and nonprofits often provide frontline services to urban communities and would benefit from research-based information to build local programming from. Additionally, NRSP12 would provide benefits in the form of data sets and standardized metrics of ecosystems services provided by NbS ( [38] see: Landscape Architecture Foundation) [1]. 

Industry and Private Sector Partners: As interest in NbS and urban agriculture grow, companies working in in green infrastructure, urban technology, consulting, and engineering fields need a reliable research base and open datasets from which to build their businesses around as well as the development of standardized metrics to evaluate performance against [38], see Green City Growers. 

Stakeholder Involvement in Project Development and Activities

Stakeholders and participants have been actively engaged in shaping NRSP12 since its inception [39] [1] [37] (see Appendix 1: Letters of Commitment and Appendix 2: Interviews with Researchers). During the concept-building stage, municipal officials, Extension leaders, and community-based organizations have participated in several NUREC activities, listening sessions and webinars, including

Building Collaborative Research and Extension Networks to Advance the Application of Science with Urban Communities. In July 2024 NUREC and the National League of Cities, co-convened a by-invitation summit with 43 individuals representing federal agencies, local governments, non-profits/membership organizations, land-grant universities, and a non-land-grant urban serving university to identify research priorities and potential educational/Extension programs in the issue areas of: 1) urban agriculture and food systems, 2) health and wellness, and 3) the built environment. [40]

Generating Research Opportunities Workshop (GROW) for Urban Agriculture. This workshop was a virtual event designed to engage potential research, extension, education, industry, and community collaborators from across the nation in integrated urban agriculture proposal development. During this conference, interdisciplinary teams collaborated to develop creative and effective proposals rather than spend resources competing against one another. (https://sites.google.com/msu.edu/grow-uaconf/home).

Leading Edge Dialogues: In 2019, NUREC (formerly WCMER) hosted the National Urban Extension Conference (NUEC) and launched the Leading Edge Dialogues, a series of 90-minute interactive workshops which explored critical issues facing our cities and our universities and developed recommendations and opportunities for collaboration [41]. 

Urban, Indoor, and Emerging Agriculture: During May 2020, NUREC, in conjunction with NUEL and several urban Farm Bureau county organizations, conducted 4 on-line listening sessions to solicit, collect, and submit responses from the broad group of stakeholders to inform NIFA’s development of Urban, Indoor, and Emerging Agriculture program [42].

Sustainable Urban Systems: NUREC brought together a select group of 40 scientists and practitioners across an array of disciplines, sectors, and locations as part of the National Science Foundation’s development of their Sustainable Regional Systems program. Publications developed include a guide for city planners, a guide for developing community outreach and engagement for researchers, and a project report – all available at: https://nurec.extension.org/portfolio-item/sustainable-urban-systems/.

Urban Green Infrastructure: In early 2018, NUREC hosted a summit to connect scientists, Extension professionals, practitioners, and community leaders to share existing resources; inform education and research priorities; and build new collaborative, problem-solving networks program. [43]

Promoting Urban Food, Energy and Water Resource Resilience via the Regional Food System. This summit built on 27 key-informant interviews and convened researchers, Extension professionals, urban food producers and policy makers to understand how food, energy, and water are interdependent in the context of changing environmental pressures and policies. [24].

Built Environment Rx Series. NUREC launched the Built Environment Rx Series [44] to explore how urban design, planning, landscape architecture, and construction practices can improve human and ecological well-being across U.S. communities. This ongoing series brings together scholars, practitioners, and community partners to examine “living systems” in the built environment including water, vegetation, soil, and the city itself and to highlight emerging research, metrics, and collaborative approaches for healthier, climate-adaptive urban systems. Sessions feature national experts and foster dialogue across universities, agencies, and community organizations. https://nurec.extension.org/portfolio-item/built-environment-rx-series/

This input directly shaped our Research Network structure and focus. To ensure that our network stays relevant to urban issues, each IRN will have mechanisms to involve community stakeholders and end-users in meaningful ways. This will build off the Memorandum of Understanding between NUREC and the National League of Cities and their support leeter (both attached) to include a municipal representative or community organization leader as a co-chair of the IRN, hosting listening sessions or “urban needs” panels at IRN meetings and stakeholder meetings (e.g. the National League of Cities annual City Summit), and partnering with Extension in each state to connect research teams with local stakeholder groups to co-design research agendas, contribute datasets, and participate in case studies. This engagement ensures that the research conducted addresses real-world needs and that outreach pathways are built in from the start.

Involvement in Review and Management Plans 

NRSP12 governance includes an Advisory Committee with stakeholder representation across SAES, Extension, and partner organizations. The Steering Committee will help to guide project priorities, facilitate partnerships for pilot projects, and provide feedback on overall network structure and achievements, ensuring that activities respond to real-world needs rather than academic abstraction. This ensures balanced oversight and responsiveness to community and practitioner needs. Members of the Steering Committee will also contribute through annual advisory forums, where they can review progress, assess outputs, and suggest course corrections. 

Relationship of Stakeholders with Research Support 

Stakeholders are not passive recipients but active partners. By embedding Extension educators and municipal representatives within leadership structures, NRSP12 ensures that research support activities are continually informed by practice. The Urban Data Hub will provide stakeholders with access to open, standardized datasets and visualization tools, reducing reliance on fragmented or proprietary information. In turn, stakeholders will contribute local data, knowledge, and feedback, creating a reciprocal relationship between research support and application. 

Mechanism for Assessing Stakeholder Use of Outputs 

NRSP12 incorporates a comprehensive evaluation and assessment framework that includes:

• Usage Analytics: Tracking downloads, dataset contributions, and visualizations accessed from the Urban Data Hub.
• Surveys and Feedback Loops: Periodic surveys of Extension professionals, municipal staff, and community organizations to measure adoption, satisfaction, and impact of tools.
• Advisory Forums: Annual convenings where stakeholders review outputs, share use cases, and recommend adjustments.
• External Evaluation: A mid-term independent review that includes stakeholder interviews and case studies of use.
• Outcome Indicators: Metrics such as number of municipalities adopting standardized NbS metrics, number of Extension programs using urban soil curricula, or new policies informed by project outputs. 

See Appendix 3: Evaluation Plan Overview for more details.

By establishing robust mechanisms for tracking stakeholder use and producing policy-relevant outcomes, NRSP12 ensures that its research support activities will directly inform decision-making, advance national priorities, and strengthen the land-grant system’s public value. 

Implementation

Objectives

1. Building Networks- Each IRN is envisioned as a national network of peers focused on a specific urban issue domain, who collaborate regularly to share knowledge, co-design multi-site projects, and implement methods, procedures and practices that result in more successful research programs and more effective applications of research findings.
   Comments: Year 1 will focus on recruitment and networking through webinars, synthesis working groups, and other workshops in addition to Urban Data Hub development of a comprehensive geospatial data library for IRN use. Years 2-5 networking activities and Hub use will continue but will focus more explicitly on research acceleration leveraging synthesis working group findings, and through team-building for proposal development and seed grant opportunities.
2. Synthesizing Knowledge- Curating, organizing, and understanding the vast swath of urban agricultural and environmental data that currently exist is crucial for informing where future research efforts should be developed
   Comments: Each IRN will explore a pressing topical issue through SWG activities over the course of a year. Three SWGs will run each year (Years 1-5) to identify, curate, and assess existing data to fill standing knowledge gaps and research needs. The Urban Data Hub will be key to research synthesis, providing rapid access to, and manipulation of, existing data. The Hub will serve as a platform analogous to the data systems in place for long-term agricultural research (LTAR) sites.
3. Accelerate New Research- A structured synthesis approach (SWGs, Urban Data Hub development) to understanding the state-of-the-science within our three IRNs will set the stage for NRSP12 participants to rapidly identify multiple novel research areas and collaborate to tackle pressing issues across the urban agricultural and ecosystem domain.
   Comments: Proposal workshops will run in Years 2-5 and will support the formation of interdisciplinary teams in the creation of competitive proposals using platforms and facilitation strategies previously proven to be successful in the urban agriculture domain. All NRSP12 participants will have opportunities to apply for internal funding for research acceleration. Travel Grants (four per year, for up to $2,500 each) will help support in-person meetings for dedicated ideation and writing time and an annual seed grant competition (five, $10k awards per year) will fund particularly innovative and relevant NRSP research.
4. Communicating Outcomes. A nationwide network requires nimble, timely, and thoughtful sharing of information, news, and opportunities across a wide audience of interested members.
   Comments: We will develop a web presence within the existing NUREC website to provide a readily known and trusted entry point to the NRSP12 including its goals, opportunities and activities, Data Hub & Repository, and news and updates. In addition to NRSP12 activities and results being disseminated through disciplinary channels and AES networks, we will also leverage our partnership with NUEL, NLC, NACo and others to get information, data, and outputs into the hands of decision makers and practitioners. The Urban Data Hub platform will allow users to register free-of-charge and will offer regular training on upload and access to scholarly products, policy documents, and presentations, and in how to use customized tools for academic and non-academic needs. User activity will be tracked project evaluation.

Projected Outcomes

Management, Budget and Business Plan

Management and Organizational Structure

Steering Committee: NRSP12 will be managed by a steering comprised of the two IRN leads (Dr Dan Cronan and Dr Joshua Arnold), Data hub leadership (Chris Barnett), professional development leadership (Dr Julie Padowski and Dr Edgar Cardenas) and project director (Dr Brad Gaolach). The steering committee will meet virtually monthly for the first six months of the project, every other month for the balance of year 1, and then quarterly during years 2-5 of the project. The steering committee, advisory committee and external reviewer will meet in person annually. The steering committee will review progress and ensure that activities remain aligned with project goals and stakeholder needs. This committee also plays a role in evaluation oversight and in planning for sustainability (e.g., identifying opportunities to institutionalize parts of the project into existing national programs).

Advisory Committee: In addition to the AAs and NIFA representative, it will include representatives from research (Bret Hess, Executive Director AgInnovations – West); Extension (designee of the National Urban Extension Leaders, see Appendix 1: Letters of Commitment); Extension Foundation (TBN); National League of Cities (Dr. Chistine Baker-Smith, Director of Research, see Appendix 1: Letters of Commitment); National Association of Counties Large Urban County Caucus (TBN); and a representative from a non LGU urban serving university (TN). They will provide strategic guidance for the NRSP, review performance of the NRSP, provide a feedback loop to ESCOP, ECOP, and USDA and identify further action and /or communication needed to be shared with constituents and stakeholders. They will meet annually with the steering committee.

External Evaluation: We will employ an external evaluator throughout the project to measure the overall outcomes, successes, and challenges of the NRSP and identify areas for improvement. The evaluator will use qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods; employing focus groups and individual in-depth interviews to collect primary data. Additional data will also be collected from the documents and other outputs developed as part of the NRSP activities. They will provide summative reviews in years 2 and 5. They will meet annually with the steering and advisory committees at a minimum and more frequently (virtually) as needed

Executive Team: NRSP12 will be administered within the National Urban Research and Extension Center (NUREC), which has been hosted by Washington State University since inception. This will allow integration with and leveraging of NURECs established research, Extension, and stakeholder connections. WSU currently provides fiscal administration of NUREC as well as overall organizational support for the Director (Brad Gaolach), operational management (Martha Aitken), an urban extension specialist and a project specialist. NRSP12 will have access to WSU’s resources such as communications hosting and document repositories. The executive team, consisting of the project director, operations director and assistant, will meet weekly as part of NUREC’s standing operations meeting to ensure smooth operation of the NRSP, that all milestones are being met, and support to all aspects of the NRSP are being provided.

Budget Justification

University of Massachusetts is requesting salary and benefits for 0.167 FTE annually for Dr Josh Arnold to provide leadership for the Urban Agriculture and Soils IRNs and annual travel to the in-person steering committee ($1,771). Dr Arnold is an agroecologist who combines research, Extension, and teaching to impact the health of cities and increase food security. Joshua specializes in integrated pest management, soils, and the social-ecological factors that influence and create urban agroecosystems. Total five-year salary requested for Dr. Arnold: $81,245 plus $25,430 benefits

Michigan State University is requesting salary and benefits 4 staff (cumulative 0.33 FTE) from the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) to support the Research Synthesis and Acceleration (RSA) activities and travel for 1 person to the annual in-person steering committee meeting ($1,771). Total five-year salary requested: $182,243 plus $68,515 benefits

TDI has developed and provide training similar to the RSA activities to National Science Foundation projects (AceelNet, Convergence Accelerator, Growing Convergence Research Programs, EPSCoR and BEACON programs), NASA, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and 6 US based Institutions (5 LGUs).

Dr. Edgar Cardenas will lead activities focused on interdisciplinary training. He will contribute to the design and delivery of quarterly team science and research synthesis webinars, Link & Learn events focused on networking and idea cross-pollination, team science and participatory research capacity building activities, and office hours. He will also co-lead the development and management of Synthesis Working Groups (SWG) and serve as a reviewer for evaluating travel grant and seed grant competition applications. Dr. Cardenas will serve as the institutional lead for Michigan State University.

Dr. Michael O’Rourke will support Dr. Cardenas in designing interdisciplinary activities, co-managing SWGs, and in overseeing MSU contributions.

A Project Senior Specialist (TBN) will support Dr. Cardenas in designing and delivering all interdisciplinary training activities, including quarterly team science and research synthesis webinars, Link & Learn events focused on networking and idea cross-pollination, Team science and participatory research capacity building activities, and office hours. They will also participate in supporting the development of SWGs.

A Project Manager (TBN) will support Dr. Cardenas by scheduling and running planning meetings, scheduling events, coordinating with NRSP staff, and running budget and personnel reports and will coordinate with the NRSP project assistant.

University of Missouri is requesting funds to support 6 staff (cumulative 0.46 FTE annually) from the Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES); travel for 1 person to the annual in-person steering committee meeting ($1,771; software licensing ($4,500 in years 1 and 3-5 and $6,500 in year 2); and $9,000 for additional computer storage in year 1. Total five-year salary requested: $182,402 plus $70,775 benefits.

CARES will provide leadership for the Urban Data Hub. CARES develops and hosts web-based resources that support access to thousands of geographic data sets, supports tools that provide tailored insight into data impacting local condition, and provides information and tools with the goal of helping communities obtain and understand how to use data to better support decision making. Over the last three decades, CARES has worked with state and federal agencies, researchers and non-profits, and local communities and organizations, to better visualize and communicate issues in a manner that supports informed decision-making. https://extension.missouri.edu/programs/cares/. Since 1992, CARES has collaborated on projects with support from several foundations, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and partnering university researchers. Selected funders include Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, WK Kellogg Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, US News, Missouri Department of Economic Development, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Through these collaborations, CARES has developed a significant portfolio for data collection and management, web-based content delivery, and spatial analysis.

Chris Barnett, CARES Director, will direct implementation of the Urban Data Hub and Urban Research Repository, collaborate with project partners, oversee CARES staff assignments and budget allocations, and contribute to project evaluation and distribution of results.

Project Coordinator (TBN) will support the CARES Director on management of the project, oversee daily project operations, coordinate with project partners on project issues and milestones, and assist with project reporting and evaluation.

Data and Database (TBN)staff will identify and integrate the data supporting the project systems, design and support an optimal database structure, implement and maintain map and report content, and manage data-related website content.

Programmer and website developer (TBN) staff will design and implement project system web interfaces, ensure compliance with digital accessibility and other applicable standards, develop programs supporting Urban Data Hub tools, and collaborate with broader project staff on Hub review and modifications.

Fiscal and systems administer (TBN) staff will ensure project systems are current and compliant with standards, set up required data storage and management systems, and collaborate with project management and University of Missouri fiscal officers on project expenditures and fiscal reporting.

Communications staff will be responsible for website content development, supporting communications events, and preparing reports and user support documents.

Washington State University is requesting funds to support:

Personnel:

• 5 staff (cumulative 0.97 FTE annually (1.01 in year 1) Total five-year salary requested: $499,415 plus $196,422 benefits.
• $407,776 ($77,772 annually) for 2 Synthesis Working Group Fellows (graduate RAs)

Travel

• $50,000 ($10,000 annually) in travel grants for researchers to participate in RSA activities
• $281,000 (56,200 annually) to host (all expenses covered) 25 persons to attend Synthesis Working Group workshops (conference rooms, travel, lodging, meals)
• 11 persons to travel to annual in-person meetings (including evaluator and advisory committee members). ($19,481 annually)

Other

• $200,000 for seed grants ($50,000 in years 2-5; 5 per year, $10,000 each)
• $9,000 annually for open access publication fees;
• $4,932 average annually for an external evaluator:
• $3,000 single time for purchase of Owls for video conferences (year 1);
• $2,000 in years 2-5 for virtual conference platform (Gather.Town):
• $3,000 annually for HubSpot CRM software;
• $288 annually for data cloud storage;

Personnel details

Dr. Dan Cronan, Assistant Professor in the School of Design and Landscape Architecture at WSU. He is providing leadership for the Built Environment IRN. Dr. Cronan’s research interests include Landscape Planning and Landscape Architecture with an emphasis: Food, Energy, and Water Systems (FEWS); Alternative Futures Landscape Analysis (GeoDesign Scenario Planning); Agricultural and Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) siting, sizing, and implementation; Urban Sustainability; Urban Ecology; Landscape Planning and Site Planning; and Sustainable construction practices for Landscape Architects; Landscape Planning and Systems suitability analysis and geospatial analytical tools; and Landscape Architecture pedagogical evaluation tools. He was a team lead and member on an NSF INFEWS grant (# 1639529), contributing scenario modeling and planning to align stakeholder perspectives and researcher-based trajectories of change. The scenario-based land use projections are intended to provide guidance for community planning and a framework for future development in socio-ecological systems, specifically food systems within the urban and rural context.

Dr. Julie Padowski will coordinate all RSAA activities. She will support MSU in interdisciplinary training, co-design Link & Learn events focused on networking and idea cross-pollination and co-lead the development and management of Synthesis Working Groups (SWG). She will oversee the travel grant and seed grant competition process.

Padowski serves as the Director for WSU’s Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach (CEREO) https://cereo.wsu.edu/about_us/, and is a Research Associate Professor with the School of the Environment. Through her work with CEREO, Padowski brings a decade of experience working with students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community partners in advancing interdisciplinary, environmental scholarship and engagement through grant-funded projects. She specializes in approaches that use systems thinking and community engaged scholarship strategies to develop flexible, collaborative structures that bring thought leadership, convene and support multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary research projects, and will leverage this expertise to build integrated opportunities for research, education, and outreach through the NRSP. She has been a PI or Co-PI on 23 grants since 2017 that have collectively brought in $21M in grant-related funding.  Notable projects of Padowski’s include an NSF Sustainable Regional Systems Research Network grant entitled” Transforming Rural-Urban Systems: Trajectories for Sustainability in the Intermountain West (#2115169); an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates program entitled “Stakeholder Informed Modeling of Innovations in the Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) Nexus “(#1950877) ; and an NSF INFEWS/T1 grant entitled Increasing regional to global-scale resilience in Food-Energy-Water systems through coordinated management, technology, and institutions (#1639458), and a NSF NRT graduate training program award entitled, Rivers, Watersheds and Communities: Training an Innovative, Cross-Sector Workforce for Equitable, Multi-Scale Decision-Making Towards Human and Ecosystem Health (#2125758).

Dr Brad Gaolach will serve as the project director. He is the founding director of the National Urban Research and Extension Center (NUREC) and WSU’s Metropolitan Center for Applied Research and Extension both focusing on bridging the gap between research and community through extramurally funded project, NSF and USDA funded workshops, and listening sessions.

Dr Gaolach is trained as a population biologist and community ecologist; he is recognized for bringing systems and sustainability-based approaches to community-based applied research and education programs. Dr. Gaolach utilizes his training as a research scientist and ecologist to bridge the world of academia with community-based applications. He provides leadership on Center projects related to environmental stewardship, systems thinking, and organizational development. He has additionally conducted applied research and developed extension programs relating to water quality, climate change, agriculture, food systems, and community and economic development.

Martha Aitken will support operations of the NRSP across all universities; ensuring successful operational and administrative collaboration amongst all project partners and subcontractors, including primary oversight over fiscal and contract matters related to the NRSP. Ms. Aitken has performed these activities for over 20 years with WSU.

Maggie Anderson will provide broad-based support to the project, supporting the IRN leads in scheduling meetings, events, and coordination with RSA activity participants. Ms Anderson currently performs these activities on NUREC projects, including their Knowledge and Practice Networks and grant-funded projects.

Business Plan

NRSP12 will be hosted by Washington State University (WSU), within NUREC. WSU is providing significant in-kind support (staff time, fiscal management, integration into WSU operational and management systems, office space, etc.) to ensure the success of NUREC and NRSP12, reflecting a strong institutional commitment to this initiative. NRSP12 Director (Dr. Gaolach) will oversee day-to-day operations, coordination among teams, and serve as the primary liaison to the NRSP governing bodies.

With long-term sustainability in mind, financially, NRSP12 will operate within the NUREC business plan which currently includes Smith-Lever funding, NUREC membership dues ($70,000 in annual), external grants, and in-kind contributions. While NUREC is currently modest in size (0.6 FTE) and fiscal revenue (membership dues plus active grant projects), it is organizing as a Research and Extension Consortium to increase its capacity to develop fiscal resources from corporate and philanthropic sources. The synergistic activities of NUREC and NRSP12 will provide a strong foundation to build a research and extension consortium from. NUREC’s goal is to grow LGU institutional memberships from the current 14 to over 25, with a target of at least 5 institutions from each of the 4 geographic regions of AgInnovations / ECOP (west, south, northeast, and north central) as well as membership from non-LGU urbans serving universities. NUREC’s business plan also includes working through our USDA federal partnership to facilitate fiscal opportunities with other federal agencies (e.g. HUD, EPA, NOAA) to support existing and developing new IRNs.

NUREC has established an MOU with the National League of Cities around core pillars of synthesis and acceleration and best practices development and expansion. This MOU will be used to mutually develop revenue streams to conduct research and extension projects to augment NRSP12 and base NUREC funding – either through joint funding opportunities (e.g. grants) or direct funding from NLC to NUREC to complete targeted research projects (see Appendix 4: MOU between NLC and NUREC). NUREC’s business plan is to develop this fiscal and programmatic (research and extension) model with NLC and then replicate it in similar ways with the National Association of Counties’ Large Urban County Caucus as near-term growth opportunities.

 

 

 

Integration

Integration with Extension is a core design feature of NRSP12, ensuring that research results translate into on-the-ground impact. The project’s housing within NUREC (National Urban Research and Extension Center) provides a structural link to Extension from the start, as NUREC’s mission is explicitly to bridge research and practice in urban areas. We will leverage NUREC’s existing networks and partnerships (such with the National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL) and National League of Cities (NLC)) to disseminate NRSP12 insights widely. The goal is that every research activity also has an outreach pathway, and every Extension activity is informed by current research.

Key strategies for Extension integration include:

• Extension Representation in Leadership and IRNs: Extension professionals are part of the leadership team and Advisory Committee of NRSP12 and are actively involved in each Integration Research Node. For example, each IRN’s core committee will include at least one Extension specialist or agent from a land-grant institution. This ensures Extension perspectives (such as the feasibility of applying research recommendations in community programs) shape the research from the beginning. Extension members also act as liaisons to state and local Extension networks, communicating needs and findings in both directions.
• Urban Extension Program Development: Applied research projects undertaken through NRSP12 will be connected to urban Extension programming from the outset. If a research team is, say, developing a new soil testing protocol for urban gardens, we will coordinate with Extension educators to pilot that protocol in urban gardening programs and gather feedback. Similarly, if research identifies a successful intervention (e.g., a particularly effective design for a community cooling center or a high-yield rooftop farming technique), NRSP12 and / or NUREC will help package those findings into Extension curricula, toolkits, or demonstration projects that can be delivered by Extension in cities nationwide. By weaving research and Extension together, we accelerate the adoption of innovations.
• National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL) Partnership: We will maintain a close partnership with NUEL, which is a network of 1,300+ urban-focused Extension professionals across the country. The NRSP12 Director (who is also NUREC Director) sits on the NUEL Steering Committee, which facilitates ongoing exchange of information. Through NUEL, we will share NRSP12 outputs (datasets, case studies, policy briefs) with Extension leadership in all Extension regions. NUEL’s biannual National Urban Extension Conference and other forums will be used to showcase NRSP12 projects and glean input on emerging urban issues that research should address. NUEL has agreed to have an urban research track in the conference to highlight research from the NRSP
• Community Outreach and Engagement: The project will follow best practices for community engagement, emphasizing respect, mutual benefit, and transparency. We will promote and support the use tools like community advisory boards for certain research projects, and create accessible outreach materials (such as fact sheets or neighborhood workshops) to share results in non-technical language. Extension personnel will be crucial in translating scientific findings into culturally relevant outreach and education materials. The Urban Data Hub will also have a public-facing component that allows community users to access information (for example, a community group could use the map room to visualize conditions in their neighborhood). In this way, the Hub supports outreach by serving as a data resource for the public, facilitated by Extension.
• Feedback Loop from Practice to Research: Integration with Extension not only helps push research out, but also pulls community needs in. Through Extension’s on-the-ground connections, NRSP12 will stay attuned to the evolving needs and questions that urban communities have. For example, if Extension agents report increasing inquiries about urban pollinator conservation or safe techniques for rooftop gardening, the NRSP can respond by encouraging research in those areas. This responsiveness to community-voiced issues helps keep the NRSP relevant and demand-driven.

Overall, Extension integration ensures that NRSP12 remains firmly grounded in application. Success will be measured not just by academic outputs, but by evidence of use – city agencies using data from the Hub to make decisions, community gardens adopting new practices from our research, or new Extension programs (like urban soil health workshops) launched as a result of NRSP12 findings. By embedding Extension throughout the project, we will bridge the notorious gap between research and practice, fulfilling the “extension” of knowledge that is the hallmark of the LGU system.

Outreach, Communications and Assessment

Intended Audiences

Our target audiences include:

• The scientific community at land-grant universities; urban serving universities; local, state, federal, and tribal governmental agencies. This would include graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and fellows.
• Policy makers at local, state, federal agencies and their associated organizations such as the National League of Cities as a conduit to their members nationally and tribal governmental agencies.
• Extension and other non-governmental organizations / practitioners at local, state, and national levels.

In addition to fostering high quality urban research, this NRSP complements the mission of NUREC to bridge the gap between community and research and support the translation and application of that research by Extension.

Stakeholder Engagement

Primary stakeholder engagement will be through participation in the NRSP12 activities (e.g. research synthesis and acceleration activities (RSAAs), professional development activities, integrated research networks, and the data hub). The IRN leads will engage the research community through existing professional connections, the researchers who have provided letters of commitment in Appendix 2, through relevant professional societies and their meetings (e.g. American Ecological Engineering Society) as well as through regional AES networks. We will leverage our practitioner connections (e.g. National Urban Extension Leaders, National League of Cities, Landscape Architecture Foundation) to incorporate them into IRNs and project activities; thereby connecting researchers and communities to identify and prioritize research that is important to both, and then elevate those issues for collaborative problem solving, program development and dissemination of results and products. This approach will ensure an on-going feedback loop of evaluating NRSP activities, how they are being used by stakeholders, and how they are supporting researchers’ needs.

NUREC has established Knowledge and Practice Networks for the Built Environment and Urban Agriculture and Food Systems with established engagement with relevant stakeholders (e.g. the Built Environment Rx: web series [44] engaged 285 individuals during the first 4 events: https://nurec.extension.org/portfolio-item/built-environment-rx-series/). NUREC will leverage these existing engagement activities to promote NRSP12 opportunities and track engagement

NUREC has established a customer relationship management (CRM) system with currently over 1,700 researchers, policy makers, practitioners, industry members and use it to actively engage with and track engagement in activities. NUREC will use this CRM to build and track stakeholder engagement with NRSP activities. NUREC will incorporate NRS12 into their website (http://nurec.extension.org), directly connect to the Data Hub elements housed on the CARE website in a seamless fashion, and showcase NRSP activities, products, and accomplishments.

Measuring Accomplishments and Impacts

Evaluation and accountability:  NRSP12 will bring a holistic evaluation framework to bear that supports integrated tracking (participation, datasets contributed or used, collaborations formed, outputs, stakeholder use cases) and a mid-term external review to ensure the support functions are effective and responsive. The evaluation plan is designed to monitor progress toward three primary outcomes: fostering national and cross-institutional research collaboration, improving the quality and accessibility of urban ecosystem and agriculture data, and accelerating the development and dissemination of high-quality research. See Appendix 3: Evaluation Plan Overview for additional detail

To measure these outcomes, the plan integrates process evaluation (ongoing monitoring) and summative evaluation (mid-term and final assessments).

Process evaluation

We will include assessing the extent to which project activities (IRN development and activities; Data Hub development and utilization; and professional development offerings) are advancing toward the goals. IRN development and collaborative work will be assessed using meeting agendas, minutes, and a description of the IRN composition, deliverables (e.g., standardized metrics developed) and incubation projects supported. The Data Hub and Repository will create a data and research project inventory to establish a baseline rate of utilization overall and by key stakeholder characteristics. Utilization of the Data Hub and repository by stakeholder characteristics will also be assessed using database analytics. Professional development offerings will be assessed using rates of registration, participation, satisfaction, and pre/post assessments of knowledge, self-efficacy, and intention to implement skills. Annual surveys, listening sessions, and/or case studies will be used to understand needs and utilization of IRN, Data Hub, and professional development offerings. Hubspot will be used to track participation in IRN and professional development offerings and will house data to be utilized as a sampling frame for annual surveys, listening sessions, and/or case studies for mid-project and long-term outcomes.

Summative evaluation

We will assess long-term impact through indicators such as adoption of IRN frameworks by stakeholder groups, utilization of IRN-developed best practices, number of developed and funded research projects, and publications in high-impact journals among those participating in professional development offerings and/or using Data Hub resources. Comparative analyses will examine differences in research development and dissemination (e.g., acceptance rates by journals and impact factors) overall and by stakeholder type, region, and utilization of the project’s resources (high vs. low) levels, as well as against publications rates identified in the peer-reviewed literature. Case studies and interviews will provide deeper insights into how IRNs, the Data Hub, and training activities influence the longer-term outcomes. Annual surveys, listening sessions, and/or case studies will also be used to understand how the IRNs, Data Hub, and professional development offerings supported the development of research, adoption of best practices or IRN frameworks, and the faster dissemination of research to peer-review.

Specific Metrics include:

• Rates of participation by participant and organizational characteristics (e.g., tenure status, LGU type, expertise, state, EAS region); stakeholder type
• # of incubation projects identified and/or supported overall and by IRN areas and by stakeholder type
• Research agenda and best practices development by meeting agenda, minutes, action items completed; # of RFAs responded to within research agenda topical areas; # of and type of best practice offerings developed and disseminated
• Annual survey and/or listening sessions to identify research gaps and support needs of stakeholders
• #, %, rates of change related to adoption/implementation of IRN frameworks key stakeholders overall and by AES region
• Rates of best practices utilization in research publications or products
• # of submitted and funded research projects within research agenda topical areas
• # of publications by type (e.g., technical bulletins, policy briefs, high impact factor journals) and response of journal (e.g., desk acceptance, major revision, minor revision)
• Annual surveys, case studies, and/or interviews with stakeholders to assess the extent to which goals were achieved
• Create an inventory of research projects
• #/% changes in products available to researchers and stakeholders (type, topic area)
• Rates of product utilization and by user characteristics (LGU/org type; researcher type/tenure). For example, the Data Hub will include features to help track performance and products by loggin key metrics such as the number of datasets contributed, the usage statistics of the platform, the collaborative projects and proposals that emerge, and policy or community applications informed by Hub data.
• #/% of cross-institutional research projects using Hub
• # of standardized metrics developed and utilized overall, by IRN area, and by service user characteristics
• # of funded research projects using Data Hub products
• # of publications or funded proposals using Data Hub products
• # of publications in high impact factor journals and response of journal (e.g., desk acceptance, major revision, minor revision)
• Changes in rates of participation with professional development offerings overall and by stakeholder type
• Participant characteristics (e.g., LGU type, tenure status); stakeholder type
• Pre/Post tests to examine changes in knowledge, beliefs, and behavior intention
• Participant satisfaction ratings
• Identification of needs through interviews or listening sessions
• Annual needs assessment and service utilization survey
• # and rate of research proposals development overall and by high and low-service user
• # and rate of publications in high impact factor journals compared to national averages identified in the peer reviewed literature
• # and rate of publications in high impact factor journals overall and by high and low service user
• # of abstracts submitted, accepted, or invited overall and by high and low service users

Stakeholder Advisory Feedback: In addition to formal evaluation, we will maintain an Advisory Committee (including representatives from participating SAES institutions, Extension, and external urban stakeholders) that meets at least annually to review progress. They will examine data such as the usage of the Data Hub, participation stats, and examples of research or extension success, and provide feedback and guidance. Having this external perspective built-in will keep us accountable to the broader community and help flag any issues early.

Strategic Plan and Methodology

This NRSP will operate as a research synthesis and acceleration network, structured to generate tangible outputs within the first two years while building capacity for long-term research coordination. The strategic plan is organized around three interrelated components: (1) formation of Integrated Research Nodes (IRNs), (2) research synthesis and acceleration activities, and (3) professional development and seed grant mechanisms that catalyze collaborative research.

Formation of Integrated Research Nodes (IRNs)

Strategy:
We will establish three thematic IRNs focused on (a) Urban Soils, (b) Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) and Ecosystem Services, and (c) Urban Agriculture and Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Systems. Each IRN will be co-led by faculty from land-grant universities and supported by Extension professionals and external partners (e.g., National League of Cities, NACo).

Methodology:

• Convene IRN launch workshops in Year 1 to identify shared research questions, knowledge gaps, and priority metrics.
• Develop governance frameworks for each IRN, including leadership roles, decision-making processes, and annual work plans.
• Expand IRN membership by Year 2 to include at least 30 researchers across six or more LGUs, ensuring disciplinary diversity and institutional buy-in.

Synthesis and Data Integration

Strategy:
We will employ a research coordination model modeled on NSF Research Coordination Networks  and synthesis centers. The Urban Data Hub will serve as the integrative platform for sharing, synthesizing, and visualizing research data.

Methodology:

• Phase 1 (Year 1): Launch a beta version of the Hub prioritizing up to 10 key topics to promote with maps, data, and resources around the priority themes (urban soils, NbS, urban agriculture). In this initial phase, we will focus on assembling readily available, high-value datasets (for example, a nationwide urban soil lead contamination dataset, a tree canopy cover dataset for several cities, USDA urban ag census data, etc.) and building the core mapping interface. Users will be able to visualize data layers, overlay their own local data points, and generate basic reports (charts, maps) to support research planning. Feedback from beta users will be gathered to improve functionality. We will also work with the Synthesis Working Group to visualize and archive outcomes from the group’s efforts. We anticipate this will include merging and rescaling of existing data, and the generation of new data based on the results generated by the in-person workshop.
• Phase 2 (Year 2): Expand the Hub’s content and capabilities. By the end of Year 2, we aim to support data and resources for at least 25 key topics spanning additional cities and variables, and to implement robust metadata standards for all data (using, for example, Dublin Core or ISO standards for geospatial data). A key feature introduced in Phase 2 will be the Urban Research Repository to house user data contributions. Researchers will be able to upload their own datasets (e.g., results from a multi-state urban soil experiment) through a guided submission process ensuring standardized formatting and documentation. The Repository will accommodate data in a variety of formats, including spatial, and will support integration with other Hub components. We will also initiate training workshops and tutorials to promote the Hub’s use – showing the community how to find data, add data, and use the mapping tools in their research and Extension work. Participants will get NRSP credits for contributing datasets (see Research Synthesis and Acceleration Activities Section), accumulated credits are used to weight applications for seed grant and travel grant opportunities. In addition, these efforts will drive adoption so that the Hub becomes an active, living resource.
• Synthesis Workshops: Each IRN will convene annual workshops to synthesize existing knowledge, identify common indicators, and draft white papers.
• National Symposium (Year 2): Convene a cross-IRN synthesis meeting to integrate findings and define standardized metrics for urban soils, NbS, and urban agriculture.
• Outputs: By the end of Year 2, the network will produce at least three white papers (one per IRN), submitted as peer-reviewed technical reports or journal articles.

Professional Development and Seed Grants

Strategy:
Capacity-building will be delivered through training programs led by the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (MSU) and CEREO (WSU), paired with a competitive seed grants program that funds pilot research aligned with NRSP objectives.

Methodology:

• Training: Offer professional development workshops and webinars on systems thinking, resilience frameworks, team science, scenario planning, and community-based research methods.
• Seed Grants (Year 2): Allocate $50,000–$75,000 annually to support 6 pilot projects across the three IRNs. Pilot projects will generate preliminary data, methods, or partnerships that can feed into competitive external proposals.
• Evaluation: Year 1 will establish baseline metrics; Year 2 will assess outputs such as publications, data hub adoption, and grant submissions.

Two-Year Milestones and Deliverables

Year 1:

• Milestones: Establish 3 Research IRNs; Launch beta Data Hub; Host professional development workshops
• Deliverables: 3 IRN launch workshops; draft outlines for 3 white papers; beta Data Hub with ≥10 datasets; training modules and proceedings

Year 2:

• Milestones: Convene national synthesis symposium; Publish white papers; Expand Data Hub; Launch seed grants
• Deliverables: 3 white papers submitted; ≥25 datasets in Data Hub; 6 seed projects funded; ≥5 competitive grant proposals submitted; symposium proceedings published; 100+ registered Data Hub users; documented institutional buy-in through letters of support, co-funding, and in-kind contributions

Communication Pieces

We will produce an annual report that provides a comprehensive accounting of NRSP12 activities, accomplishments, outcomes, and impacts along with 1-page overviews for each of the IRNs, seed-grant projects, and data hub elements. These will be provided to the Review Committee, NIFA, SAES and ARD directors and shared through the NIMSS system, with the all members of the NRSP, on the NRSP webpage and with regional executive directors for both AgInnovations and Extension, other stakeholders, and to use as recruitment and engagement mechanisms for new participants.

Where possible, we will also publish or present on our evaluation approach and lessons learned (e.g., sharing how the IRN model worked, through venues like the Journal of Extension or at the AEA conference for evaluators). This contributes to the knowledge base on how to effectively evaluate transdisciplinary, networked projects

Data Management Plan

The Urban Data Hub will be developed and housed on University of Missouri (MU) Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES) supported systems. The Urban Data Hub will consist of an Urban Map Room and a Research Repository.

The Urban Map Room will leverage existing national data repositories at CARES consisting of thousands of mappable data layers. The data layers comprise geographic information stored in ESRI geodatabases, SQL Server, and MySQL databases or accessed via standard data sharing protocols (open map services, APIs, etc.).  These data are based on common data resources, such the American Community Survey, and include current and (limited) historical data. A complete listing of data layers can be found at https://allthingsmissouri.org/atm-map-data-list/.  

The data will be maintained by CARES staff, who will integrate updated information on a regular basis, including acquisition and integration of new data, preparation of map symbolization, documentation of new data, and development of map services. CARES will be responsible for ensuring data security and backup and will collaborate to identify and integrate information directly supporting urban research. No personally identifiable

The Map Room will also support integration of local data developed by researchers. The supported formats for this information include standard geographic data formats (shapefiles, KML/KMZ files, or geojson data), spreadsheet data that can be associated with common geographic features (e.g. counties) based on a standard geographic identification code, and geocodable address data. Researchers submitting data will be required to participate in a short training event, certify that the information they are providing does not include PII, enter basic metadata for each dataset uploaded, provide citation and sharing permissions, and develop mapping symbology for their data set. Tools and assistance for the latter will be provided. All data submissions will be conducted using a secure, permissions-based interface and will be reviewed for content before being made publicly accessible in the Map Room.

All mapping data will be publicly accessible through a mapping interface that allows for discovery, display, and interaction with available map layers. The interface will include tools for overlay of multiple data layers, data query and selection, discovery of metadata, generation of map outputs (JPG, GIF, PNG, and PDF formats), and map sharing (via email or social media). Logged in users will be able to save maps and retrieve maps previously constructed within the Map Room.

A chief component of the Map Room will be the reporting tools, which will provide indicator-based reports for an identified geographic area. A list of supported indicators will be developed for Map Room users to select and build custom reports and logged in users will be able to generate and save reports on the system.  All users will be able to download reports in PDF or Microsoft Word formats.

The Research Repository (RR) will be designed to include systems for submitting and documenting urban research, storing and cataloging submitted research, and allowing user discovery and retrieval of research documentation.  

Research descriptions will be collected through a standardized, login only, WordPress-based interface and stored in a MySQL database. Researchers will be asked to provide standard information about their research, including (but not limited to) information on subject, sponsors, methods, findings and publications. A standard taxonomy related to research description will be developed to aid data entry and facilitate data query. Researchers will also supply citation information and use permissions and will be able to update the information submitted. Researchers will have the ability to provide links to research websites and online publications related to their projects. Optionally, researchers can submit a photograph related to their research for inclusion in search results. The information submitted to the RR will be immediately available for user discovery, but CARES staff will exercise the ability to remove or block public access to submitted data as warranted.

User discovery tools will consist of an interface allowing users to search, filter, and sort information within the RR. Information will be displayed as an array of tiles with basic information that can be selected by the user for display of the complete information related to the urban research project. The user will have the option to mark a particular project as research of interest. It is anticipated that users will select multiple research projects of interest, or even all results of their query, for further action. The user will then be able to generate and download a formatted report (PDF or similar) of all projects of interest with basic research information included.  

An optional login for the user discovery tools will be designed and implemented. Logged in users will be able to save and return to their queries, so that as more research is added to the RR over time, their results will automatically update. In addition, these logged in users will be able to save their search results reports and use them in the future to link directly to the full research project description stored in RR.

User support and training materials will be developed and made available within the RR. Regular backup of the systems and data will be supported, and systems security scans and compliance will be provided in collaboration with the University of Missouri Division of Information Technology.

Distribution of Results

The primary mechanism for distributing results will be through NRSP12 and the project website on the NUREC website, which will include access to the RR. Outreach and engagement efforts will drive traffic to the website so it will be seen as the primary portal to engage with and from which to access results. We will also present the results at scientific discipline related professional meetings and annual meetings of stakeholders. We are intentionally choosing not to host our own NRSP12 related annual meetings of stakeholders as we feel there are enough existing venues. Instead of competing for participation, we think that resources could be better, and more effectively, spent by engaging stakeholders at their respective meetings and demonstrating how we support their work and missions (e.g. the National League of Cities annual City Summit and the National Urban Extension Conference). 

We will engage with and distribute materials to appropriate organizations and committees within the land-grant system, to include the Executive Director for each of the regional AgInnovations and Extension Directors associations, for dissemination across the research and Extension networks; appropriate APLU committees; Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP); and the National Urban Extension Leaders. 

Projected Participation

View Appendix E: Participation

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Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

AZ, MA, MI, TX, WA

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

Washington State University