Edith B. de Guzman

Water Equity and Adaptation Policy Cooperative Extension Specialist

Edith de Guzman (she/her) is an interdisciplinary researcher, practitioner, educator, and consultant working with diverse audiences to understand and address the impacts of climate change in under-represented communities.

Her work investigates best practices on water management, climate adaptation, heat mitigation, and urban forestry for the sustainable transformation of the Los Angeles region and beyond. Edith’s research, demonstration projects, and recommendations are made through the lenses of urban planning, public health, behavioral sciences, biophysical sciences, and public policy.

From 2014 to 2020, Edith served as Director of Research at TreePeople. Her projects included: City of Los Angeles Stormwater Capture Master Plan; facilitating the creation of a Greening Plan with the communities of Inglewood and Lennox; gleaning lessons for California from Australia’s response to its historic Millennium Drought; and producing the first interactive, high-resolution public map and spatial analysis of Los Angeles County’s urban forest.

Edith also co-founded and directs the Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative, a multisectoral partnership working to alleviate the public health risks of extreme heat. Their research has found that one in four lives currently lost to extreme heat could be saved if LA had more trees and its infrastructure were more reflective, particularly where low-income communities and communities of color live and work.

In 2023, Edith concluded her Ph.D. studies at the UCLA Institute of the Environment & Sustainability. For her dissertation, she conducted three applied, interdisciplinary studies on climate adaptation and climate health equity using community-based methods. She earned a master’s in urban planning from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and a bachelor’s degree in history and art history, also from UCLA.

When not working or studying, Edith can be found hiking, playing guitar, or creating art exhibitions that explore the human connection to the environment.

Learn more: See the news story announcing Edith’s new position.

Media Coverage

Los Angeles Times

A dire ‘math problem’ on the Colorado River and wholly inadequate responses

Grist

The solution to urban heat is much, much simpler than you think

Los Angeles Times

Trees that survived L.A.’s wildfires are dying at alarming rate. Can they be saved?

KCRW

Do trees burn houses? Or is it the other way around?

LAist

As California debates Zone Zero, researchers want to know: Can trees protect homes from fire?

The Guardian

Can culling your garden slow a wildfire? A California city pins its hopes on a contested plan

LAist

LA will host the World Cup and Olympics in the heat of summer. Will the city be ready?

LAist

World Cup heat safety plans — Evening Edition

USC Today

USC and L.A. Metro announce winners of the inaugural Shade Zone Design Competition

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CURRENT PROJECT(S)

ShadeLA - Protecting Angelenos from Heat

Shade is the most effective way to cool people, especially those who are most vulnerable. By partnering with USC Dornsife Public Exchange and civic partners, we aim to expand and protect the urban tree canopy and shade infrastructure, building heat resilience for Angelenos. ShadeLA is leveraging the attention and investment around the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Organizers: Edith B. de Guzman, Colleen Callahan, Monica Dean, Marianna Babboni, Katie Vega, Max Teirstein, and others

Researcher(s):

Evaluating the Role of Vegetation in Urban Fires

Edith B. de Guzman is conducting a rapid forensic assessment of the role of trees in fire dynamics within the Palisades Fire perimeter, in collaboration with partners from UC Davis, UC Agriculture & Natural Resources, and the USDA Forest Service. The results can inform rebuilding efforts and offer lessons for future events. The goals are to:

Measure tree damage, loss, and mortality;
Assess fire damage to the urban forest concerning the structure, built environment material, and data on fire dynamics;
Find examples of unburned landscaping and vegetation around burnt buildings; and
Test the extent to which tree species with varying ecological traits might have ignited and contributed to the spread of the fire.

Researcher(s): Edith B. de Guzman

Partnership with City of Los Angeles Office of Forest Management

The Luskin Center for Innovation has partnered with the City of Los Angeles Office of Forest Management, which regularly seeks our advice on best practices for urban forest equity planning. The decision-making framework we pioneered with the LA Urban Forest Equity Collective has been adopted by the city in its urban forest management planning process.

Researcher(s): Edith de Guzman, Rachel Malarich, and Clarissa Boyajian

Los Angeles Urban Forest Equity Collective

The Luskin Center for Innovation co-leads the Urban Forest Equity Collective, a consortium of forestry experts, LA city staff, community-based organizations, researchers, and consultants. The Collective aims to create holistic strategies to advance urban forest equity in the lowest-canopied neighborhoods in LA. By conducting a comprehensive analysis and creating strategies, the group works to address decades of systemic disinvestment and planning decisions that have resulted in poor public health outcomes, limited access to green spaces, and a host of related consequences ranging from heat exposure and poor air quality to food insecurity and reduced ecosystem services.

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Researcher(s): Edith de Guzman, UCLA; Rachel O’Leary, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection; Rachel Malarich, City of LA; Marianna Babboni, USC Public Exchange; Monica Dean, USC Public Exchange

Informing Heat and Urban Forest Science Curriculum

Luskin Center for Innovation staff is advising on the National Science Foundation-funded heat and urban forest science Empowering Changemakers: Urban-Biodiversity Initiative for Teachers and Youth (ECUITY). The initiative is developing an environmental justice biodiversity curriculum for middle schools in Los Angeles, supporting the City of Los Angeles’s goal of zero net biodiversity loss.

Researcher(s): Edith de Guzman, Travis Longcore, Mas Dojiri, and Jill Grace

Funder: National Science Foundation