About

Amy M. Lerner is an environmental social scientist and Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She holds three interdisciplinary degrees that integrated training in both social and natural sciences as well as qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Her research and professional work have primarily focused on Latin America, where she has spent over 20 years engaged in ecotourism in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru, and research in Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico. Originally from Long Beach, California, Professor Lerner has dedicated much of her career to understanding the relationships between humans and the environment, especially in the context of agriculture within expanding urban areas, sustainable agricultural practices, and green infrastructure. She pursued an undergraduate degree in Human Biology at Stanford University, a master's degree in Environmental Studies at Brown University, and a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She further advanced her expertise through post-doctoral research in Geography and Human Ecology at Rutgers University and in the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy Program (now C-PREE) at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Professor Lerner has also held non-academic roles in farm, garden, and environmental education, mainly in California. Her first faculty position was as an Assistant Research Professor at the National Laboratory for Sustainability Science within the Ecology Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. There, she collaborated on projects with graduate students and colleagues addressing natural resource management in informal urban areas, including water and waste issues, the preservation and encouragement of agriculture in peri-urban interfaces, challenges related to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in indigenous communities, urban resilience, and opportunities for City-University Partnerships focused on sustainability. Beyond her academic pursuits, she is an avid organic gardener, guitar player, baker, and nature enthusiast.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Geography
• Ecology
• Environmental science
• Political Science
• Environmental resource management
• Environmental planning
• Biology
• Pedagogy
• Archaeology

Selected publications

• Desigualdad en el acceso al agua en los hogares de México

  Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (México). Unidad Azcapotzalco. eBooks · 2026-01-01

  bookOpen access

  El libro Desigualdad en el acceso al agua en los hogares de México examina la desigualdad en el acceso al agua en los hogares de México desde un enfoque interdisciplinario que articula economía, política pública, salud y derechos humanos. A partir de evidencia empírica y análisis cuantitativos y espaciales, los trece capítulos que integran la obra muestran que la cobertura oculta profundas brechas en dimensiones clave del derecho humano al agua: disponibilidad, calidad, accesibilidad, continuidad y asequibilidad. Los estudios documentan que la provisión del servicio es sistemáticamente desigual y afecta con mayor intensidad a hogares de bajos ingresos, comunidades rurales aisladas, asentamientos informales y zonas urbanas periféricas, donde la intermitencia, la mala calidad del agua y los altos costos relativos son condiciones recurrentes. Asimismo, se analizan los vínculos entre exclusión hídrica, mortalidad infantil, arreglos institucionales, esquemas tarifarios y patrones de financiamiento público, evidenciando sesgos regresivos en la asignación de recursos. La obra concluye que, si bien se presenta un gran avance en el acceso al agua en México con el paso de los años, la desigualdad hídrica es un fenómeno estructural estrechamente asociado a la desigualdad socioeconómica, y plantea la necesidad de reorientar la política hídrica hacia diagnósticos integrales, criterios de equidad y soluciones técnicas y comunitarias contextualizadas.

  PublisherDOI

• Planning Education for Sustainability: Lessons From Higher Education for Sustainable Development

  Journal of Planning Education and Research · 2026-03-31

  articleSenior author

  This paper examines how tools from Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD) can be adapted to strengthen sustainability and climate change education in urban planning. Drawing on a literature review of eighty-three HESD articles, it identifies a relational perspective that foregrounds nature and the environment as a foundational pedagogical orientation. From this review, the paper highlights four key pedagogies—interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity, reflexivity, project-based learning, and role-playing games—discussing how they can be adapted into planning curricula to better prepare future planners to address sustainability challenges, and particularly climate change, in diverse urban and regional contexts.

  PublisherDOI

• Mapping grain crop sowing date in smallholder systems using optical imagery

  Remote Sensing Applications Society and Environment · 2025-07-15

  articleOpen access

  Sowing date prediction using Earth observation data is challenging in smallholder systems due to small field sizes, heterogeneity in management practices, and a lack of reference data. This study aims to develop a generalizable algorithm that does not require any ground data for calibration to map sowing date using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from three optical datasets: MODIS, Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel (HLS), and Sentinel-2. We applied Savitzky-Golay (SG) and spline smoothing algorithms to each dataset and developed a derivative approach to identify the inflection point that represents the Start of Season (SoS), which was then converted to sowing date. We applied our methodology to map the sowing date of winter wheat in Bihar, India and spring-summer maize in the state of Mexico, Mexico. Overall, Sentinel-2 data led to the highest accuracies, but the performance of the smoothing algorithm differed across locations. In India, prediction models using SG achieved an R 2 of 0.45 and a root mean square deviation (RMSD) of 11.44 days. In Mexico, prediction models using spline performed best, with an R 2 of 0.19 and an RMSD of 4.24 weeks. The lower accuracy in Mexico was due to more complex cropping patterns as well as noise in the observed sowing date dataset. Our algorithm shows potential to identify SoS, and ultimately sowing date, at scale using Sentinel-2 imagery. However, challenges from low-quality validation datasets, small field sizes, cloud cover, and landscape complexity continue to pose challenges to predicting sowing date using Earth observation data products. • Developed a general algorithm for start-of-season (SoS) detection • Performance varies by location, with better performance in homogenous systems • Sentinel-2 outperforms HLS and MODIS data for mapping sowing date for small farms • Savitzky-Golay smoothing results in the highest accuracies overall • Spline smoothing does better in regions with long fallow periods

  PublisherDOI

• Mobilizing institutional capacities to adapt to climate change: local government collaboration networks for risk management in Mexico City

  npj Climate Action · 2024-03-06 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract State-centered and hierarchical government strategies based on technocratic top-down approaches have proved inadequate to address multiple interacting and cross-scale risks. In contrast, multilevel governance (MLG) provides a form of governance by networks that operate both in a horizontal arena with neighboring local governments, civil society organizations, and local communities, and in vertical settings, with higher-level governmental authorities and international organizations. In this paper, we examined the role and experience of local governments in a multilevel governance system for risk management in Mexico City. We sought to understand what collaborative resources local governments have to address multiple risks in Mexico City? How do they mobilize these resources in specific actions to address a risk, and how do they interact with different levels on diverse organizational scales? Our results show that resources for vertical and horizontal collaboration were key for local governments for coordination to address multiple risks. We found that collaboration was more common between local governments and with the subnational government. Also, the most common actions focused on forecasting and prevention, as well as preparedness and relief of multiple risks. We found evidence of successful elements of multilevel governance and identified the need for further research on the engagement and representation for non-governmental organizations and private actors in networks of risk management. The results from this study provide a better understanding of the arrangement of collaborative resources underlying local government actions under a state of urgency and scarcity, where action cannot wait for institutional change.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Making Informal Water Distribution Work: Collective Agency and Self-Organization in Informal Areas of Xochimilco, Mexico City

  International Journal of the Commons · 2023-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Global environmental change can disproportionately impact vulnerable populations in informal settlements already struggling with diminished access to resources, conditions of poverty, and other inequalities. Simultaneously, climate variability is projected to increase global water scarcity and make “formal access” to water (i.e., through gray infrastructure sponsored by a centralized government) not only politically unlikely but also physically unfeasible. Cities will need alternative ways of delivering water to informal settlements that are reliable, sufficient, affordable, environmentally efficient, and fair. Using data from two informal settlements in the Xochimilco Municipality (Mexico City), we explore current informal arrangements for water access and delivery, and what roles are played by governments, water truck drivers, and residents. We found that self-organization through collective agency and community leadership were key for effective water delivery through private or public water trucks (<em>pipas</em>). One community showed stable leadership and strong collective agency, resulting in more “efficient” public water delivery and low levels of consumption of water from private sellers. In the other community, collective agency was hindered by lack of clear leadership and self-organization, causing residents to resort to individual action (i.e., buying more private water) rather than collectively organizing to gain sufficient public access to water. Our findings suggest that collective agency enables a positive feedback loop between water truck drivers and residents which allows efficient distribution with minimum public investment from the municipality. We argue that the explicit acknowledgement of the role of collective agency and its adequate compensation to create new agreements would create opportunities for more sustainable alternatives of water delivery in communities trapped in informal regimes of water distribution.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Local governments as key agents in climate change adaptation: challenges and opportunities for institutional capacity-building in Mexico

  Climate Policy · 2023-01-11 · 33 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Institutional capacity is one of the dimensions of adaptive capacity that determines the level and pace of climate change adaptation at the local level. Local governments are key actors in climate change adaptation because they have the responsibility to translate top-down risk information to vulnerable populations and can scale bottom-up initiatives of communities in adaptation planning. There is a need for integrated approaches for adaptive capacity building that incorporate specific capacities to tackle multiple climate risks and generic capacities to address basic needs for human development. In this analysis, we assess the institutional capacity profiles of local governments in Mexico through a cluster analysis to understand how different aspects of generic and specific capacities, which operate through bottom-up or top-down approaches, coincide in local governments. Our results show that local governments in Mexico can be grouped by type and level of institutional capacity, as follows: those that (1) engage in intergovernmental coordination; (2) focus on safety-first; (3) exhibit high capacities in transparency and citizen participation; and (4) are in a poverty trap. These groups reflect challenges for local governments in Mexico, including the need to resolve short-term crises, the lack of climate change awareness, and a low capacity to access and mobilize economic resources for adaptation. Conversely, horizontal and vertical coordination, transparency, and citizen participation are found to be key elements able to strengthen institutional capacities for adaptation. In the context of multiple climate risks and underdeveloped enabling conditions for adaptation, there is a need for strategic investment in capacities that are contextually relevant and that can reduce the adaptation gap for climate action in Mexico. Further analysis will be needed to evaluate how the mobilization of the institutional capacities by local governments in each group influences climate change adaptation outcomes, particularly differentiated for urban and rural contexts, as well as for metropolitan scales.Key policy insights - Local governments in Mexico are faced with the challenge of resolving urgent and short-term issues, making it difficult to face climate change adaptation. - Intergovernmental coordination is a key attribute that local governments can develop to address and overcome deficiencies in institutional capacities for climate change adaptation - Administrative capacity, transparency, accountability, and public participation are critical elements for local governments and will assist them to access and mobilize economic resources for climate change adaptation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Building transformative city-university sustainability partnerships: the Audacious Partnerships Process

  Urban Transformations · 2023-01-20 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  City governments and urban universities are well-positioned to play critical roles in advancing urban sustainability transformations. However, in partnering, cities and universities often focus efforts on discrete sustainability-related projects, neglecting the development of long-term relationships and deep, inter-organizational ties that can allow for collaboration on lasting and transformational change. Yet, at both cities and universities there are often individuals who are deeply interested in developing better partnerships that contribute to the sustainability and livability of their communities. This research develops and tests an evidence-based and facilitated process to guide sustainability researchers and municipal practitioners in the development of transformational City-university partnerships for sustainability. The Audacious Partnerships Process was tested by four City-university partnerships including Arizona State University and the City of Tempe, Dublin City University and the City of Dublin, King's College London and the City of Westminster and the National Autonomous University of Mexico and Mexico City. The Audacious Partnerships Process as well as results from post-surveys and interviews following implementation are elaborated. We conclude with key lessons for modifying and implementing the process to contribute to transformative partnership development. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s42854-022-00045-5.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• From resilience attributes to city resilience

  Landscape and Urban Planning · 2022-05-30 · 42 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Grand Challenges in Urban Agriculture: Ecological and Social Approaches to Transformative Sustainability

  Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2021 · 39 citations

  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Environmental planning

  SPECIALTY GRAND CHALLENGE article Front. Sustain. Food Syst., 09 April 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.668561

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Persisting narratives undermine potential water scarcity solutions for informal areas of Mexico City: the case of two settlements in Xochimilco

  Water International · 2021-05-27 · 11 citations

  articleCorresponding

  In Global South megacities, hazards related to climate change – such as water scarcity – are exacerbated by informal urban development. Limited access to public services, particularly those such as water which are considered human rights, require alternative solutions, each with its own trade-offs and costs. Cities’ decisions are often guided by socially constructed narratives. This research explores three existing narratives on promoting water scarcity solutions in two informal communities of the Xochimilco municipality in Mexico City: (1) ‘formalizing informality’ (e.g., promoting grey infrastructure development); (2) ‘enhancing informality’ (e.g., improving the current system of delivery by water trucks); and (3) greening informality (e.g., capturing rainwater).

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Marisa Mazari‐Hiriart

  Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

  16 shared

• Hallie Eakin

  Arizona State University

  15 shared

• Bertha Hernández Aguilar

  14 shared

• Lauren Withycombe Keeler

  Arizona State University

  12 shared

• Luís Tapia

  Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

  8 shared

• Timothy D. Searchinger

  Princeton University

  8 shared

• Megan McGroddy

  Science Systems and Applications (United States)

  6 shared

• Ana E. Escalante

  Instituto de Ecología

  6 shared

Education

• PhD, Geography

  University of California Santa Barbara

  2011

• MA, Environmental Studies

  Brown University

  2006

• BA, Human Biology

  Stanford University

  2000