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A research team led by principal investigator Kimberly Zarecor, an Iowa State University associate professor of architecture and director of the interdisciplinary design program in the ISU College of Design, has received a one-year, $100,000 National Science Foundation Grant to study “shrink-smart” communities in Iowa and develop tools to help all small and shrinking communities plan for population loss and mitigate its negative effects.

Funded as part of the NSF’s Smart and Connected Communities program, the Iowa State project — “A Data-Driven Framework for Smart Decision-Making in Small and Shrinking Communities — will combine data science with design and social science methodologies and community engagement processes to create an innovative, interdisciplinary research framework that can be a model for future projects. Sara Hamideh, an assistant professor of community and regional planning, is a co-PI on the project.