Costanza Rampini

Costanza Rampini serves as an Associate Professor in the School of Planning, Policy, and Environmental Studies within San Jose State University's College of Social Sciences. Her academic work centers on critical climate change challenges through community-engaged research and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Her research spans climate justice, human adaptation, resilience, sustainable development, political ecology, and vulnerability. She investigates equity dimensions of climate impacts by asking: Who bears climate burdens? Who benefits from solutions? How can frontline communities shape equitable adaptation strategies? Her work prioritizes marginalized voices in climate policy design.

Current projects include:

• Examining climate-flood-policy interactions in Northeast India;
• Co-developing coastal adaptation with Santa Cruz's Beach Flats/Lower Ocean neighborhoods;
• Studying homelessness encampments along Bay Area urban streams with UC Davis and conservation districts to create dual-benefit solutions for ecosystems and unhoused populations.

Dr. Rampini applies lessons from Himalayan river communities to California contexts, ensuring climate solutions center frontline experiences. Her methodologies emphasize community participation from project inception, challenging conventional development approaches that reproduce injustices.