Peleg Kremer
Associate Professor · Villanova University
Spatial analysis for just and sustainable urban social-ecological systems. My lab uses GIS, remote sensing, and machine learning to understand how the structure and governance of cities shape who experiences environmental burdens and who receives environmental benefits, with a focus on urban heat, air quality, flooding, green stormwater infrastructure, and equitable access to green space in Philadelphia and beyond.
Active funded research
NSF SCC-IRG · Track 1
Integrating Community Dynamics, Environmental Data, and AI to Advance Green Stormwater Infrastructure Sustainability
NSF DISES
Abating Mobility Equity Gaps Induced by Nuisance Flooding in Underserved Communities
William Penn Foundation
Beyond Land Precarity: Building a Garden Database and Platform to Support Philadelphia Growers
What is new
2026 · Apr
Anna Kosierowski defended her honors thesis, Legacy of Redlining: A GIS-Based Study of Environmental Hazards and Social Vulnerability in Historically Redlined Neighborhoods, during the Villanova Honors Program Senior Thesis Defense Day.
2026 · Mar
Three Kremer-lab papers at the AAG annual meeting in San Francisco: PGDC’s approach to urban garden preservation, measuring community garden security in Philadelphia, and PM2.5 and chronic disease across 500 US cities.
2026 · Mar
Sensitivity of urban structure-temperature relationships to grid parameterization out in Ecological Informatics with Dennis Weaver and Justin Stewart.
2025 · Oct
WPF Webinar with Craig Borowiak: Roots at Risk: How Secure are Philadelphia Urban Gardens?
2025 · Jul
Began as Associate Editor of Sustainable Cities and Society.
Research themes
Urban form, heat, and air quality
Urban Structure and the Environment
How the three-dimensional structure of cities shapes the heat residents experience and the air they breathe, from Philadelphia case studies to a global analysis.
Spatial data, AI, and community knowledge
Urban Flooding and Green Infrastructure
Using spatial data, community knowledge, and AI to plan stormwater and flood adaptation that is both effective and equitable.
Community gardens and the right to urban space
Community Gardens and the Urban Commons
Urban vacant land as a generative space, and the Philadelphia Garden Data Collaborative’s work to document and protect community gardens.
Parks, urban nature, and the social-ecological framing of cities
Urban Ecosystem Services and Wellbeing
Who benefits from urban green space and on what terms: access to parks, everyday human-nature interactions, and the social-ecological framing that anchors the rest of the program.