Kelli L. Larson

Kelli L. Larson

  • Senior Sustainability Scientist, Global Institute of Sustainability
  • Teaching Faculty, School of Sustainability
  • Associate Professor, School of Sustainability
  • Associate Professor, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning

School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning
Arizona State University
PO Box 875302
Tempe, AZ 85287

Phone: 480-727-3603
Fax: 480-965-8313
Email: kelli.larson@asu.edu



Biography

Dr. Larson's areas of interest include human-environment interactions, water resource governance, and social dimensions of sustainability. She is primarily concerned with how and why risk perceptions, environmental attitudes, and ecological behavior vary across distinct social groups, different biophysical settings, and diverse places. With an interdisciplinary background in resource geography and multidisciplinary environmental studies, her scholarship advances knowledge of nature-society relations and the social acceptability and cultural sustainability of natural resource management regimes. Her past research spans topics from alternative farmers' agricultural information needs in the U.S. to international water conflict and cooperation worldwide. Currently, Dr. Larson is conducting research in two core areas: 1) the reasons underlying multidimensional perspectives and conflicting views on water resource governance, and 2) the causes, consequences, and feedbacks of residents' land management practices. While at ASU, much of her work has been situated in the desert metropolis of Phoenix, where she collaborates with multidisciplinary scholars in the Central Arizona;–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project and the Decision Center for a Desert City. Dr. Larson teaches classes such as Society and the Environment, Human Dimensions of Sustainability, Geographic Research Methods, and Workshops on Urban Water Governance

Selected Publications

Larson, K. L., A. Wutich, D. White, T. Munoz-Erikson, and S. Harlan. In press. Multifaceted perspectives on water risks and policies: A cultural domains approach in a southwestern city. Human Ecology Review.

Roy Chowdhury, R., K. L. Larson, J. M. Grove, C. Polsky, L. Ogden, J. Onsted, and E. Cook. 2011. A multi-scalar approach to theorizing socio-ecological dynamics of urban residential landscapes. Cities and the Environment 4(1):6.

Frisk, E. and K. L. Larson. 2011. Educating for sustainability: principles & practices for transformative action. Journal of Sustainability Education 2: 1-20.

Larson, K. L., D. Ibes, and D. White. 2011. Gendered perspectives on water risks and policy strategies: A tripartite conceptual approach. Environment and Behavior 43(3):415-438.

Larson, K. L., E. Cook, C. Strawhacker, and S. Hall. 2010. The influence of diverse values, ecological structure, and geographic context on residents' multifaceted landscaping decisions. Human Ecology 38(6):747-761.

Larson, K. L. and D. Lach. 2010. Equity in urban water governance through participatory, place-based approaches. Natural Resources Journal 50(2):407-430.

Larson, K. L. 2010. An integrated theoretical approach to understanding the sociocultural basis of multidimensional environmental attitudes. Society and Natural Resources 23(9):898-907.

Larson, K.L., and R. M. Edsall. 2010. The impact of visual information on perceptions of water resource problems and management alternatives. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 53(3):335-352.

Larson, K. L., D. White, P. Gober, S. Harlan, and A. Wutich. 2009. Divergent perspectives on water resource sustainability in a public-policy-science context. Environmental Science and Policy 12:1012-1023.

Larson, K .L. 2009. Social acceptability of water resource management: A conceptual approach and empirical findings. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 45(4):879-893.

Larson, K. L., D. Casagrande, S. Harlan, and S. Yabiku. 2009. Residents' yard choices and rationales in a desert city: Social priorities, ecological impacts, and decision tradeoffs. Environmental Management 44:921-937.

Larson, K. L., A. Gustafson, and P. Hirt. 2009. Insatiable thirst and a finite supply: Assessing municipal water conservation policy in greater Phoenix, Arizona, 1980-2007. Journal of Policy History 21(2):107-137.

Hirt, P., A. Gustafson, and K. Larson. 2008. The mirage in the Valley of the Sun. Environmental History 13:482-514.

Larson, K. L., and D. Lach. 2008. Participants and non-participants of place-based groups: An assessment of attitudes and implications for public involvement in water resource management. Journal of Environmental Management 88:817-830.

Larson, K. L., and M. V. Santelmann. 2007. An analysis of the relationship between residents' proximity to water and attitudes about resource protection. Professional Geographer 59(3):316-333.

Expertise

human-environment dynamics; water resource geography and governance; risk perceptions, policy attitudes, and sustainable behaviors; social-ecological systems; water resource geography; natural resource management; policy and governance; decisionmaking; risk perceptions, policy attitudes, and ecological behavior; urban ecology; water resource management; resource governance

Courses

  • GPH 210: Society and the Environment
  • SOS 494/594: Workshops on Urban Ecology and Water
  • SOS 514: Human Dimensions of Sustainability
  • GCU 591: Water Resource Geography and Policy
  • GCU 496: Geographic Research Methods
  • SOS 320: Society and Sustainability

Education

  • Ph.D., Resource Geography, Oregon State University - Corvallis, 2005
  • M.A., Environmental Geography, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, 1999
  • B.A., Geography, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, 1997

Journal Articles

Brumand, J. and K. L. Larson. 2012. Neighborhood norms and restrictions as drivers landscape management in Phoenix neighborhoods. The Triple Helix 8:36-39. (link)

Cook, E., S. J. Hall and K. Larson. 2012. Residential landscapes in an urban socio-ecological context: A synthesis of multi-scalar interactions between people and their home environment. Urban Ecosystems 15:19-52. (link)

Edsall, R. M. and K. L. Larson. 2009. Effectiveness of a semi-immersive virtual environment in understanding human-environment interactions. Cartography and Geographic Information Science 36:367-384.

Show More

Books and Book Chapters

Edsall, R. and K. Larson. 2006. Decision making in a virtual environment: Effectiveness of a semi-immersive "Decision Theater" in understanding and assessing human-environment issues. In: Conference Proceedings for Automated Cartography 2006. Presented at the Conference for Automated Cartography, Vancouver, WA. June 25-28, 2006, CD-ROM.

Larson, K. L., D. C. Ibes and E. A. Wentz. 2012. Identifying the water conservation potential of neighborhoods in Phoenix, AZ: an integrated socio-spatial approach. Pp. 11-35 In: P. Lawrence ed. Geospatial Approaches to Urban Water Resources. Volume 7, Springer Series. Geotechnologies and the Environment, Volume 7. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-4734-0_3.

White, D., A. Wutich, K. Larson and T. Lant. In press. Understanding uncertainty: Decision makers’ evaluations of WaterSim in the Decision Theater. In: S. Borges Corręia and R. Taddei. eds., Visualizing Water (Un)Sustainability. University of Arizona Press.

Posters/Presentations

Brumand, J. and K. L. Larson. 2012. The effects of formal and informal institutions on residential land management in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Poster presented at 13 January 2012 CAP LTER 14th Annual Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting, Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. (link)

Casagrande, D., S. Yabiku, E. Farley-Metzger, D. Hope, C. Gries, K. Larson, N. Grimm and C. Redman. 2006. Effects of landscape manipulation on human behavior, knowledge, and social organization in an urban ecosystem. Poster presented at the 6-11 August 2006 91st Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Memphis, TN.

Chowdhury, R. R., A. Decatur, M. Grove, E. Harris, K. Larson, D. Martin, J. Oneil-Dunne, L. Ogden, C. Polsky and N. Vaughn. 2011. Landscape and social ecologies of suburbanization: What is on our residential landscapes?. Presented April 12, 2011 at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Seattle, WA.

Show More