Understanding Critical Thresholds in Urban Systems
The Urban Tipping Points (UTIP) initiative is a global, interdisciplinary research collaboration that investigates critical thresholds in urban systems where small, incremental pressures can trigger large-scale, rapid transformations. These shifts may be regenerative and resilience-oriented or lead to systemic collapse and deepening inequity.
Join Our Team
We are seeking an outstanding Postdoctoral Associate to contribute to the Urban Tipping Points (UTIP) project. The Postdoctoral Associate will work at the intersection of climate risk assessment, public health, and urban ecology and systems science. Contribute to a deeper understanding of where and when cities become vulnerable to rapid shifts, how they can scale up and replicate bright spots, and design systemic changes that underpin transformations.
Research Areas
Climate Risk & Infrastructure Adaptation
Under what conditions do infrastructure systems (water, energy, mobility, built environment) cross threshold states or cascades under climate stress?
Urban Health & Environmental Justice
How do tipping dynamics emerge in exposure, vulnerability, and health burdens in urban populations—especially marginalized communities—and how do these feed back into system dynamics?
Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services in Cities
What ecological thresholds exist within urban and peri-urban ecosystems, and what are tipping dynamics in ecosystem service provision (e.g. pollination, stormwater retention, microclimate regulation)?
Positive Tipping Points
Where are the “ leverage points” for catalyzing beneficial tipping dynamics—across social, ecological, and technological systems—to accelerate resilience and sustainability in cities?
Social Inequity & Governance Responses
How do social and institutional tipping processes occur around adaptation, power, equity, and legitimacy in cities, and under which governance regimes do tipping points get delayed or catalyzed?
Partners
